{"product_id":"9780857734815","title":"A Spy in the Archives: A Memoir of Cold War Russia","description":"Moscow in the 1960s was the other side of the Iron Curtain: mysterious, exotic, even dangerous.  In 1966 the historian Sheila Fitzpatrick travelled to Moscow to research in the Soviet archives. This was the era of Brezhnev, of a possible ‘thaw’ in the Cold War, when the Soviets couldn’t decide either to thaw out properly or re-freeze. Moscow, the world capital of socialism, was renowned for its drabness. The buses were overcrowded; there were endemic shortages and endless queues. This was also the age of regular spying scandals and tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions and it was no surprise that visiting students were subject to intense scrutiny by the KGB.  Many of Fitzpatrick’s friends were involved in espionage activities – and indeed others were accused of being spies or kept under close surveillance. In this book, Sheila Fitzpatrick provides a unique insight into everyday life in Soviet Moscow. Full of drama and colourful characters, her remarkable memoir highlights the dangers and drudgery faced by Westerners living under communism.","brand":"I.B.Tauris","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47130574881008,"sku":"9780857734815","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780857734815_p0.jpg?v=1763842112","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780857734815","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}