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 .
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.
