About book A Secret Life: The Polish Colonel, His Covert Mission, And The Price He Paid To Save His Country (2005)
I saw the movie "Jack Strong" in Poland, which was about Ryszard Kuklinski, so I was excited to read the book on which it must have been based (plus other sources, I'm sure). In the movie, he was presented as a largely positive character, but it took a long time for him to be (re-)embraced in Poland, and many still view his acts as treason. He always maintained that he had done it for the love and future independence of Poland, and overturning his conviction for treason apparently became a prerequisite for Poland's entrance into NATO. For a long time, as I understand it, the Soviets and even the Polish military downplayed the importance of the information that Kuklinski passed to the CIA, but this book seems to do a pretty good job of going through the CIA archives and activity statements to show that in fact his information was extremely beneficial to the US's effort to understand the Soviet way of thinking and action, and likely prevented further death in Poland (although the US did not take action to prevent martial law, though she had information about the action (not the date) prior to its implementation).I would recommend it for anyone interested in Soviet or Polish politics and Cold War history.
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