{"product_id":"the-liar-how-a-double-agent-in-the-cia-became-the-cold-wars-last-honest-man-9781541700796","title":"The Liar: How a Double Agent in the CIA Became the Cold War's Last Honest Man","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Cold War meets \u003ci\u003eMad Men\u003c\/i\u003e in the form of Karel Koecher, a double agent whose shifting loyalties and over-the-top hedonism reverberated from New York to Moscow\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In the mid-1970s, the CIA and KGB watched Karel Koecher closely--they were both convinced he was working for the enemy. And they were both right. Traveling with his wife, Hana, Koecher posed as a Czechoslovak asylum seeker and arrived in the US as a Communist sleeper agent. After parlaying a doctorate from Columbia into a job at the CIA, Koecher proceeded to operate as a double agent at the height of the Cold War. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Shunning a low profile, the Koechers embraced Manhattan's high life--with cocaine, swinging, and parties emblematic of the times and their penchant for risk. Hana, who was no more than a shy teenager when she arrived, grew into a sophisticated international diamond dealer who relayed messages to Karel's handlers. Riding a wave of euphoria, the Koechers felt unstoppable. But it was too good to last. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Using newly declassified documents, interrogation tapes, and extraordinary firsthand accounts from the Koechers themselves, Cunningham reconstructs their double lives and the fading Cold War, where a strange moral fog made it hard to know what truth was being fought for, and to what end. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBenjamin Cunningham\u003c\/b\u003e is a Barcelona-based writer. He is a former correspondent for \u003ci\u003eThe Economist\u003c\/i\u003e, editor in chief of the \u003ci\u003ePrague Post\u003c\/i\u003e, and copy boy at the \u003ci\u003eSaginaw News\u003c\/i\u003e. In addition he contributes to \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Aspen Review, Le Monde Diplomatique\u003c\/i\u003e and is an opinion columnist for \u003ci\u003eSme\u003c\/i\u003e, Slovakia's main daily newspaper. He is a PhD candidate at the University of Barcelona. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"PublicAffairs","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50387361661202,"sku":"9781541700796","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_099f1147-43fb-4660-9066-2cae2a23b165.jpg?v=1728879141","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-liar-how-a-double-agent-in-the-cia-became-the-cold-wars-last-honest-man-9781541700796","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}