Clever Girl : Elizabeth Bentley, the Spy Who Ushered in the McCarthy Era

Rating:
Summary: Good, first bio on Liz Bently
Review: Although the life of Elizabeth Bently deserves a bigger book, I enjoyed this first biography of the enigmatic but fascinating commie spy, Elizabeth Bently. The author attempts to explain this Vassar educated American woman who became a Russian spy, but Bently still remains a vague phantom. Since I'm fascinated by that whole period--of Joe McCarthy, Alger Hiss, the shocking presence of real-life commnists in American government back in the 30s and 40s--I found this book very readable. You might also enjoy related books, especially Ann Coulter's best-selling, "Treason," which really delivers the goods about how the Communist scare of the 40s and 50s was not the imaginary fear of paranoid Americans. It really was something to cause genuine fear. Elizabeth Bently revealed just have intensive this spy network was.

Rating:
Summary: Mixed Sentiments
Review: As indicated, I have mixed sentiments about this book. The story is engaging enough, and Kessler delivers it in a readable, comfortable manner. However, it often seems as if she is acting more as an apologist for Bentley, rather than giving a fully candid evaluation.
Bentley's career as teacher, communist, spy, and FBI informant is enticing and worth investigating, but there are some irritating flaws. Most prominent is the lack of footnotes; there is an endnote page, but no numbers in the narrative that correspond with it. There is also the unnerving sense that something is constantly amiss. For all her organizational skill, and apparent value to the Soviet spy network, Bentley is repeatedly duped, manipulated, and outright naive. The author never adequately resolves this paradox, and thus somewhat undermines its historical credibility. In fact, she ( Bentley) almost never seems to understand the implications of her actions, and is striking for appearing so intellectually shallow. Indeed , not very clever at all.
Despite these limitations, it is entertaining, but should be read with the cautionary anteenae in place.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating study of an enigma
Review: The subject of the book is hard to understand, even with all the facts laid out so admirably. Kessler's writing style commands attention without getting in the way of the facts, but those facts are so twisting that at times even the most diligent student of history may be confused. That's a small quible, however, in an overarching work of vigor and suspense. Well worth a read.