In the Gunsight of the KGB
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989. First edition. Stated. Presumed first printing. Hardcover. xi, [1], 273, [1] pages. Footnotes. Inscribed by the author. Inscription reads "To Kemton Jenkins with best wishes, A. A. Ushakov." A proud Foreign Service Officer, Kemton Jenkins "Jenks," had a varied and distinguished career. He served in the foreign service and with the Department of State for 30 years. He was a Russian specialist, and was posted to both Berlin and Moscow in the late 1950's and early 1960's during the height of the Berlin Crisis and Cuban Missile Crisis. For a time he was the Director of the US Information Agency. He served as Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations under Henry Kissinger. Mr. Jenkins wrote a book about this period, "The Cold War Saga", which was published in 2010. Ushakov relates the dramatic story of his spectacular escape from the Soviet Union. He attempted to cross the Turkish border in the Caucasus Mountains against insurmountable odds. His success came three weeks later, after being relentlessly pursued by helicopters and soldiers. Derived from Publishers' Weekly: In the winter of 1984 the author, a university professor in Odessa, learned that he was to be arrested for his anti-Soviet views. He struck off into the Caucasus mountains, breached the heavily guarded Soviet-Turkish border and eventually made his way to the U.S., settling in Virginia. His account of the trek is a remarkable adventure story, but there are two other elements that are equally interesting: his scathing denunciation of the Soviet system, which is at the same time a detailed reminiscence of life in a country he calls "a kingdom of unmarked graves, dungeons, and concentration camps"; and his delighted views on America. Ushakov is a contentious fellow of strong opinions and a rollicking sense of humor. For all his prickly humor and thunderous condemnations, the book offers a fresh view of conditions in the Soviet Union in the early 1980s and blunt predictions about the death of Marxism. Condition: Very good / Very good.
Keywords: KGB, Escape, Anti-Communist, Odessa Naval Academy, Caucasus Mountains, Dissidents, Underground Movement, Espionage, Democracy, Kemton Jenkins
ISBN: 9780394562841
[Book #79068]
Price: $125.00