About this item
One decision can end everything . . . or lead to unlikely redemption.Millions watched the CBS 60 Minutes special on Jack Barsky in 2015. Now, in this fascinating memoir, the Soviet KGB agent tells his story of gut-wrenching choices, appalling betrayals, his turbulent inner world, and the secret life he lived for years without getting caught.On October 8, 1978, a Canadian national by the name of William Dyson stepped off a plane at O'Hare International Airport and proceeded toward Customs and Immigration.Two days later, William Dyson ceased to exist.The identity was a KGB forgery, used to get one of their own -- a young, ambitious East German agent -- into the United States.The plan succeeded, and the spy's new identity was born: Jack Barsky. He would work undercover for the next decade, carrying out secret operations during the Cold War years . . . until a surprising shift in his allegiance challenged everything he thought he believed.Deep Undercover will reveal the secret life of this man without a country and tell the story no one ever expected him to tell.
About the Author
Jack Barsky's life has been improbable, impossible and downright fascinating. In fact, CBS 60 Minutes found it so interesting that they featured the story in a double segment which was repeated twice.
This true spy story had a very humble beginning in the most backward corner of the old East Germany. Smarts and hard work got Jack out into the world, where he started a career teaching chemistry and math at a well-known university. And then his life took a fantastic detour - Jack was recruited by the KGB and infiltrated into the US where he spent ten years spying for the Soviet Union. He "resigned" from the KGB and embarked on a very successful career in Information Management. When he was finally discovered by the FBI, nine years after his resignation, his life took yet another sharp turn. Today, Jack is a law abiding patriotic American citizen who is taking advantage of one last chance to live a normal life.
This is a story of a life that parallels the rise and fall of Communism in the second half of the 20th century, but in its broader sense it is a multi-layered human drama played out against the background of a historic clash of systems and ideologies. Fittingly, Steve Kroft of CBS's 60 Minutes, called Jack a "relic of the Cold War." Indeed, he is a relic, but this this relic is very much alive, and he is now sharing his story, a story with all the elements of a Shakespearean drama: ambition, courage, ruthlessness, deceit, betrayal, love, survival and redemption. It is a story Jack has laid out at length in his book "Deep Undercover". In his endorsement, Joel Fields, Executive Producer of the successful show "The Americans", states: "Jack Barsky's ultimate act of courage is sharing this intimate story that sheds light on the true personal consequences of a life in espionage. Gripping and emotional, Deep Undercover peers beyond the Iron Curtain for a look into the world of a KGB officer illegally living abroad".
Pick up this book, and you will be entertained, educated, fascinated, baffled, and moved.
