Sleeper Agent cover art

Sleeper Agent

The Atomic Spy in America Who Got Away

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Sleeper Agent

By: Ann Hagedorn
Narrated by: Laural Merlington
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About this listen

This must-listen book tells the chilling story of an American-born Soviet spy in the atom bomb project in World War II, perfect for fans of The Americans.

George Koval was born in Iowa. In 1932, his parents, Russian Jews who had emigrated because of anti-Semitism, decided to return home to live out their socialist ideals. George, who was as committed to socialism as they were, went with them. There, he was recruited by the Soviet Army as a spy and returned to the US in 1940. A gifted science student, he enrolled at Columbia University, where he knew scientists soon to join the Manhattan Project, America's atom bomb program. After being drafted into the US Army, George used his scientific background and connections to secure an assignment at a site where plutonium and uranium were produced to fuel the atom bomb. There, and later in a second top-secret location, he had full access to all facilities, and he passed highly sensitive information to Moscow.

The ultimate sleeper agent, Koval was an all-American boy who had played baseball, loved Walt Whitman's poetry, and mingled freely with fellow Americans. After the war, he got away without a scratch. It is indisputable that his information landed in the right hands in Moscow. In 1949, Soviet scientists produced a bomb identical to America's years earlier than US experts expected.

©2021 Ann Hagedorn (P)2022 Tantor
Americas Military United States War Soviet Union Espionage Socialism Russia Soviet Spy

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All stars
Most relevant
The narrator ruins this book. There is almost no inflection, which has a flattening effect on any suspense or even interest that this book might otherwise have had. She could be reading a shopping list. Even at a speed of 1.2, I just couldn’t tolerate listening to it. Waste of a credit.

Dreadful Narrator

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