Product Description
More fascinating than fiction, Seduced by Secrets takes the reader inside the real world of one of the most effective and feared spy agencies in history. The book reveals, for the first time, the secret technical methods and sources of the Stasi (East German Ministry for State Security) as it stole secrets from abroad and developed gadgets at home, employing universal, highly guarded techniques often used by other spy and security agencies. Seduced by Secrets draws on secret files from the Stasi archives, including CIA-acquired material, interviews and friendships, court documents, and unusual visits to spy sites, including "breaking into" a prison, to demonstrate that the Stasi overestimated the power of secrets to solve problems and created an insular spy culture more intent on securing its power than protecting national security. It recreates the Stasi's secret world of technology through biographies of agents, defectors, and officers and by visualizing James Bond-like techniques and gadgets. In this highly original book, Kristie Macrakis adds a new dimension to our understanding of the East German Ministry for State Security by bringing the topic into the realm of espionage history and exiting the political domain.
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 Fascinating but flawed. Whose side is she on? ( scrybble17 )
This dutiful history details the late and unlamented East Germany's efforts to steal Western technology. The extensive program succeeded far beyond what is generally known, but failed to boost East Germany's to technological parity with the West.
A trio of East Germany's spies are if taken collectively the Cold War's most damaging, say Macrakis. An extraordinary claim: She ranks James W. Hall, Jeffrey M. Carney and the spy still only known as Optik ahead of Kim Philby, Aldrich Ames, and John Walker in damage done to the West. Philby's spying destroyed Western attempts to back or insert native anti-Communist forces behind the Iron Curtain, costing countless lives plus any chance of liberating Eastern Europe before the Soviets consolidated their grip. Ames blew dozens of spies' identities, getting them killed and destroying our sources in the East. Macrakis may be hyping a bit as these relatively unknown spies are the subject of her work. But she also may be correct in that the true damage they did would only have come to light had the Cold War become a hot one.
Hall and Carney, both workers at Berlin listening posts, betrayed top-secret NSA electronic eavesdropping information - Carney lower-level material, but Hall, who became a supervisor, a huge amount of high-level documentation neutralizing entire programs. Hard working at his spying as well as his career, Hall overwhelmed nifty spy cameras and false-bottom satchels with his purloined document volume. His Stasi controller rented an apartment, bought a copier and worked for hours wearing sunglasses as the copier cover had been removed to speed the work.
Particularly fascinating was the East Germans' unique work in smell detection. Trained dogs were used as the ultimate sensors. The Stasi learned how to preserve smell samples in glass jars, plus a multitude of ingenious techniques for applying this to police and counterespionage work as well.
This book ought to be fascinating all the way through - the sort of detailed spy history made possible by the opening of Soviet-bloc secret files. But Macrakis' writing leaves much to be desired. Her style is turgid. Her language occasionally sounds poorly translated rather than written in English. Her thrust is frequently unclear. Her early chapters risk losing the reader in an onslaught of bureaucratic acronyms and org charts. It took me weeks to finish this book.
And this is a pity, because her research is quite important. She has done primary research on thousands of Stasi files. Her personal insertion in the story - trying to chemically recreate invisible-ink formulas or track down a smell-dog handler to learn the techniques - is unorthodox but valid for filling in recent history's blanks.
Missing, though, is much sense of outrage. She's had Carney, now out of prison, lecture her college classes. Is this really the proper place for the new Kim Philby? She quibbles with the term `Stasi', calling it uncommon behind the Wall except in the vernacular. She prefers the "more neutral" term `MfS', German acronym for "Ministry of State Security." More neutral? Is she afraid of seeming biased against the good old Stasi?
She spent time in both Berlins as a student in the 1980s, and may have gotten too comfortable. She was shocked to learn what transpired inside East Berlin's drab buildings. It didn't surprise most Westerners; the East Germans shot thousands of people trying to leave the country. Macrakis walked through a repressive regime. Did she see only the Potemkin village they wanted her to see?
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Good look at the world of the Stasi ( bookandfilmlover )
No question, this is a great look inside the world of the Stasi. However, I wouldn't plan on packing this with the sandwich's for a day at the beach. This is a deep and scholarly treatment. For history buffs - it is highly recommended. For the casual reader - you can pass without feeling you've missed out.
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 A great deal of information but a rather dry narrative.... ( penumbra1 )
This book contains a lot of information, but the presentation is on the scholarly side. The book comes across as a rather dry read.
Having taken a recent trip to The International Spy Museum in Washington DC where they have a great exhibit on the Stasi, I was moderately interested in the subject. However this book put me to sleep more than once.
I'm giving it three and a half stars for being well researched and informative. Recommended only if you have a burning interest in the subject.
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Spies and More Spies ( denimbyte )
When I was a kid and Germany was still divided into East and West countries and Checkpoint Charlie was a part of scary politics, I loved spy stories. There was nothing like courageous men and women slipping into and out of East Germany and fooling the dreaded East German police, the Stasi.
The Stasi were great villains, although I didn't know a lot of what I assumed was fiction was so near the truth. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE owed them for a few plots, as well as several adventure novels during those times, and Hollywood.
This book is highly documented and well researched. The writing can be a little dry in places, but it doesn't take much effort to slip into those dangerous shadows portrayed on the pages. History buffs and spy fans will love this book for its depth and detail.
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A view into a forgotten world of spies and secrets ( naganojim )
The German Stasi was truly an insidious force. Just ask anyone who lived in the former East Germany. Entire families were watched, and even six year old children had their own Stasi file.
What is less known is that the Stasi also were a formidable overseas spy network. They infiltrated Western businesses primarily for their technological know-how, in a desperate- and ultimately futile - race to keep up economically and technologically. In the process, the Stasi did manage, however, to produce some truly innovative and advanced pieces of technology - for the purposes of spying. One wonders what might have been if those talents had been directed toward civilian pursuits.
After the Iron Curtain fell, many of the Stasi's records were destroyed, or "disappeared." However author Kristie Macrakis gained access to many of the records that were saved, and introduces us in this book to characters like Peter Fischer aka Werner Stiller. Fischer led a convoluted multiple life with multiple families in multiple countries. Another small character introduced is the very appropriately named Monika Lustig, who worked for the Stasi as a prostitute.
If there is one drawback to this book, it is that Dr. Macrakis is not a journalist or novelist, but an academic. At times, when we wish the book would dig a little deeper into the titillating, the exotic, or the lurid, Dr. Macrakis writes as an academic would. A particularly notable example of this is the case of Heinrich Lummer,a Christian Democratic politician who was seduced by a Stasi agent, and then was the attempted victim of blackmail by the Stasi who had photographic evidence. This entire story is introduced and concluded in one -rather dry- paragraph. Surely, Dr. Macrakis could have given us more.
Seduced by Secrets is a valuable and unique view inside one of the neglected chapters of the Cold War. Unfortunately, sometimes when we want the writing to be more like James Bond, it resembles the stereotypical image of East Germany: cold and clinical, with all of the really juicy stuff still hidden.
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