Anyone who lived in the years between 1945 and 1990 will know about the Cold War. This era in world politics was a time of great tension and was often the theme of gripping stories. If you're looking for some riveting reading, you can't go wrong with a Cold War author, whether you like easy-to-read airport novels or serious, Nobel Prize-winning literature.
The Cold War wasn't really an armed conflict in the tradition of wars everywhere. Instead, it was a power struggle between the capitalist and communist countries. This tension was the underlying reason for foreign intervention in places like Korea, Vietnam and the revolutionary wars in Africa and Latin America but there was never a full-scale war specifically between the superpowers, the USA and the USSR.
One of the ways in which the superpowers fought one another was through espionage, trying to get the upper hand by knowing what the other side was planning. Espionage goes hand in hand with drama, intrigue, action, adventure and in some cases, even romance and these themes make for thrilling reading. That's why the spy thriller flourished during this era.
One of the masters of the spy thriller is British writer John Le Carre, creator of, among others, 'The Spy Who Came In from the Cold', 'The Tailor of Panama', 'The Russia House' and 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'. Le Carre used his insider's knowledge as a former spy for the British secret service to great effect, just like fellow ex-agent Graham Greene did. Journalists often made great tellers of spy stories too, with Frederick Forsythe a prime example.
Many authors of spy thrillers created characters that returned in novel after novel. Some of these characters became household names because of their portrayal in movies. Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan and Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne are just two examples. The one that has become everyone's favorite, however, is Ian Fleming's suave British agent known as Bond, James Bond.
The communist countries also produced some great writers during the era. Many, however, wrote under very difficult circumstances with their work often being suppressed by the authorities. Czech writer Milan Kundera, for instance, went to live in exile while the Soviet writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and the Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas were not only imprisoned but also kicked out of their own countries.
Not everything written about the era is fiction. You'll find a huge variety of non-fiction works on the political situation at the time, explaining events like John F Kennedy's assassination, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the intriguing lives of the role-players involved. The stories of everyday people are told too, for instance in Anna Funder's moving 'Stasiland: Stories From Behind the Berlin Wall'.
A good way to find your ideal Cold War author is to search online and then read the reviews of different people's works. You can also ask in your local bookstore or library. Then all you need is a quiet spot and some time to curl up with a great story.
The Cold War wasn't really an armed conflict in the tradition of wars everywhere. Instead, it was a power struggle between the capitalist and communist countries. This tension was the underlying reason for foreign intervention in places like Korea, Vietnam and the revolutionary wars in Africa and Latin America but there was never a full-scale war specifically between the superpowers, the USA and the USSR.
One of the ways in which the superpowers fought one another was through espionage, trying to get the upper hand by knowing what the other side was planning. Espionage goes hand in hand with drama, intrigue, action, adventure and in some cases, even romance and these themes make for thrilling reading. That's why the spy thriller flourished during this era.
One of the masters of the spy thriller is British writer John Le Carre, creator of, among others, 'The Spy Who Came In from the Cold', 'The Tailor of Panama', 'The Russia House' and 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'. Le Carre used his insider's knowledge as a former spy for the British secret service to great effect, just like fellow ex-agent Graham Greene did. Journalists often made great tellers of spy stories too, with Frederick Forsythe a prime example.
Many authors of spy thrillers created characters that returned in novel after novel. Some of these characters became household names because of their portrayal in movies. Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan and Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne are just two examples. The one that has become everyone's favorite, however, is Ian Fleming's suave British agent known as Bond, James Bond.
The communist countries also produced some great writers during the era. Many, however, wrote under very difficult circumstances with their work often being suppressed by the authorities. Czech writer Milan Kundera, for instance, went to live in exile while the Soviet writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and the Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas were not only imprisoned but also kicked out of their own countries.
Not everything written about the era is fiction. You'll find a huge variety of non-fiction works on the political situation at the time, explaining events like John F Kennedy's assassination, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the intriguing lives of the role-players involved. The stories of everyday people are told too, for instance in Anna Funder's moving 'Stasiland: Stories From Behind the Berlin Wall'.
A good way to find your ideal Cold War author is to search online and then read the reviews of different people's works. You can also ask in your local bookstore or library. Then all you need is a quiet spot and some time to curl up with a great story.
