The Lost Spy: An American in Stalin's Service

Meier's story of a young Jewish intellectual named Isaiah Oggins, radicalized as a Columbia undergraduate in the 1920s and enrolled as a secret Soviet operative before being sent to a gulag himself, is almost too hair-raising to be true. Reading Meier's book, David Chandler undercuts the dark wonder of his story with a stolid assurance. Rather than frustrating Meier's intent, though, Chandler gives it an unshakable foundation. If someone who sounds like this is telling this story, listeners will figure, it must be genuine. Chandler reads as if mentally underlining a choice word or two in each sentence-""Stalin"" or ""KGB""-which may or may not be to everyone's liking. Other than the occasional mispronunciation of some Russian terms, Chandler's reading of Meier's astounding tale is solid. A Norton hardcover. (Reviews, Apr. 6).