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Clever Girl

Page 41

by Lauren Kessler

Truman, Harry

  attacks on administration of

  Turrill, Daniel

  Turrill family

  Tyrrell, Roger

  Ullmann, William Ludwig “Lud,”

  association with Silvermaster Group

  Bentley names as information source

  HUAC testimony of

  SISS testimony of

  United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation

  Administration

  United States government

  security check established for employees of

  Soviet espionage networks in

  testimony about Soviet espionage (see Congressional testimony)

  United States Service and

  Shipping (USS&S)

  Bentley employment at

  corporate dissolution of

  FBI investigation of

  Vassar College, Bentley’s years at

  Vaughn, Harry H.

  Venona counterespionage project

  Bentley’s testimony validated by

  decision to maintain secrecy of

  spies identified by FBI using

  Waldo, Richard

  Waldrop, Frank

  Ware Group

  War Production Board, U.S., Soviet espionage in

  Washington Daily News

  (newspaper), W. H. Taylor libel suit against

  Washington Post (newspaper)

  Watts, Llewellyn

  Wheeler, Donald

  association with Perlo Group

  Bentley names as information source

  White, Harry Dexter

  association with Silvermaster Group

  Bentley names as information source

  code name “Lawyer” and “Richard,”

  death of

  grand jury testimony

  HUAC testimony

  Wood, John

  World Telegram (newspaper), coverage of Bentley story by

  World Tourists travel agency

  Bentley destroys documents of

  Woltman, Frederic

  Wright, John (Bentley house caretaker)

  Yasha. See Golos, Jacob “Yasha”

  Zarubin, Vassily

  About the Author

  LAUREN KESSLER is the author of ten books, among them the Los Angeles Times bestseller The Happy Bottom Riding Club: The Life and Times of Pancho Barnes and Stubborn Twig: Three Generations in the Life of a Japanese American Family. Kessler directs the graduate program in literary nonfiction at the University of Oregon. She lives in Eugene, Oregon.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

  Praise for Clever Girl

  “Lauren Kessler’s story of one American woman’s evolution into a leading KGB operative, and her eventual about-face, is a nuanced and moving tale of Cold War espionage. It is a drama played with subtlety, angst, and love at that incendiary intersection of human need and national ambition.”

  —Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City and Isaac’s Storm

  “This thoroughly engaging, ultimately tragic tale of Cold War espionage reads like a novel. It’s one compulsive read, and an extraordinary window into an extraordinary era.”

  —Alex Kotlowitz, author of The Other Side of the River and There Are No Children Here

  “Lauren Kessler’s beautifully written and researched narrative has it all: a compelling heroine, an intriguing true story, and a uniquely illuminating window onto a time when, like now, so many of our precious freedoms seemed to hang in the balance. Clever Girl is a great read.”

  —Edward Humes, author of Mean Justice and Baby ER

  “Lauren Kessler’s biography of Elizabeth Bentley is a lively portrait of this pivotal secret communist courier turned government witness. Kessler’s well-researched and compassionate book is a highly readable narrative of the Cold War’s notorious ‘blond spy queen,’ whose post-Communist life proved even more turbulent than her years as a Soviet agent.”

  —Allen Weinstein, author of The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America—The Stalin Era

  “A spellbinding tale of a woman who fell prey to her idealism and was then swept up in the furor of the Red Scare.”

  —Library Journal

  “Clever Girl vividly traces the dramatic life of New England blue blood Elizabeth Bentley.”

  —Elle

  “An intriguing look at the life and adventures of a remarkable woman…. Clever Girl [is] not only an insightful biography of an extraordinary American woman but a thrilling, character-driven drama.”

  —San Francisco Chronicle

  “In this compelling and comprehensive biography, Kessler masterfully explores and exposes the myriad, competing facets of Bentley’s tumultuous life.”

  —Booklist

  “Kessler’s story of Bentley the woman is superb, bringing to life the loneliness, the fear, and the thrill of her life as spy and anti-spy.”

  —Seattle Times

  “A brilliant portrait of [a] complicated personality.”

  —Eugene Weekly

  “A well-paced and sympathetic chronicle…. Kessler’s sensitivity shines as she retells Bentley’s path from genteel Yankee childhood…into the Communist underground.”

  —Boston Globe

  “[Kessler’s] research is thorough, her understanding of the times and the people outstanding. Kessler always has known how to make history come alive. In Clever Girl, she has written a book as compelling and fascinating as any novel. This book is the work of a master.”

  —Statesman Journal

  “Clever Girl lucidly and engagingly lays out the tragic arc of an unlikely and important life that both reflected the atmosphere and helped shift the currents of international relations.”

  —The Onion

  “Impressively researched…. The mystery of Elizabeth Bentley is what keeps the reader turning the pages.”

  —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

  “[A] thoughtful and well-researched biography…. Nicely stitches together the facts of Bentley’s life to show what forces drove her to the underground world of espionage.”

  —Cleveland Plain Dealer

  “Kessler is an expert chronicler of complicated events, dedicated to unearthing the unvarnished truth, and Clever Girl is an important and compelling read.”

  —Portland Oregonian

  “A gripping book. Bentley’s story is quite remarkable.”

  —National Post (Canada)

  “We aren’t always privileged to know the truth about history. But when the truth is discovered, it often is quite different from the popular version. Kessler’s masterful book tells us the truth about communist spies in America up until the end of World War II. It’s an ugly truth…but the truth is a genuine shocker, and Kessler tells it very well, indeed.”

  —Salem Capital Journal, A “10 Best Books of 2003” Selection

  ALSO BY LAUREN KESSLER

  The Happy Bottom Riding Club

  Full Court Press

  Stubborn Twig

  After All These Years

  When Words Collide

  Copyright

  CLEVER GIRL. Copyright © 2003 by Lauren Kessler. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  ePub edition June 2007 ISBN 9780061740473

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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