Owen Matthews (2019)

A biography of a much-romanticised Russian spy. Sorge spied on Japan while working for the Nazis while working for the Soviets. His fame rests on his determination of the date of Pearl Harbour (which Stalin didn’t pass on to the Americans), and his confirmation that Japan would not attack the Russian East (which Stalin was slow to believe) that allowed the Red Army to transfer a huge number of troops to fight and defeat the Wehrmacht at the gates of Stalingrad: one of the battles that decisively determined the outcome of the Second World War.

He was clearly a complex and troubled man, as many spies are. His cover as a hard-drinking womaniser wasn’t much of an act, and he spent Moscow’s money freely to keep in character. But he was also very badly served by his handlers, routinely disbelieved and threatened with the Stalinist purges, and sent a succession of inept collaborators. His commitment to Communism was sufficient to ride-out these challenges.

I would have liked to have read more about his “afterlife” in press and politics: it’s only covered briefly here, but there’s clearly a lot to be learned from his later rehabilitation and promotion as a Soviet idealist.

4/5. Finished Saturday 4 January, 2025.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)

Rob Copeland (2023)

Ray Dalio has always been a somewhat divisive figure in finance. He’s been a remarkably successful fund manager who rose from nothing to head an enormously powerful and innovative group.

But like many successful businessmen, Dalio seemed unable to rest on that success. He developed “the rules” as a template for his success, and within Bridgewater insisted that they form part of everyone’s mindset. He supplemented this with public shamings of a style that can only be likened to the “struggle sessions” of the Cultiral Revolution, with the target being required to confess their wrongdoings and promise improvement – often as a direct precursor to being demoted or fired. But of course the “rules” were infinitely malleable to match Dalio’s own needs of the moment, making them a tool of control rather than any kind of proper guide to conduct.

A lot of this was public knowledge, but forgiven by investors and collaborator because of the returns that Bridgewater generated. That’s a recurring theme in finance, for example as recounted in No One Would Listen, and encourages a culture of impunity when accompanied by profits.

4/5. Finished Sunday 10 November, 2024.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)

Jill Lepore (2018)

A history of the United States from its founding until the present day.

Lepore is a modern historian, and it shows: the 20th century gets most of the attention, with the Civil War being relatively under-described. But the coverage that there is is deeply researched and very satisfying. She spends time tracing the various currents that went into the writing of the Constitution and the ways in which the first years of the Republic both validated and refuted the concerns of the Framers – who had all agreed not to reveal what happened behind the closed doors of the drafting convention, which must have been deeply frustrating for those proved right.

The book is probably strongest when discussing social struggles. Slavery and the traditional civil rights era are dealt with in detail, as are the votes-for-women and the (unsuccessful) campaign for an equal rights amendment: the consequences of the latter failure have been severe, and sit at the core of current illiberal trends in the US politics.

4/5. Finished Friday 8 November, 2024.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)