Sleeper Agent: The Atomic Spy in America Who Got Away

Ann Hagedorn

Jan 2022 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Laural Merlington

About this audiobook

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.

About the author

Ann Hagedorn is a former Wall Street Journal staff writer and the award-winning author of five previous books: Wild Ride, Ransom, Beyond the River, Savage Peace, and The Invisible Soldiers. She is a graduate of Denison University, University of Michigan, and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

Laural Merlington has recorded well over one hundred audiobooks and has received several AudioFile Earphones Awards, including one for Never Say Die by Susan Jacoby.