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    Strangers on a Bridge: he Case of Colonel Abel and Francis Gary Powers
    Strangers on a Bridge: he Case of Colonel Abel and Francis Gary Powers
    Strangers on a Bridge: he Case of Colonel Abel and Francis Gary Powers
    Audiobook13 hours

    Strangers on a Bridge: he Case of Colonel Abel and Francis Gary Powers

    Written by James Donovan

    Narrated by George Newbern

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    About this audiobook

    The #1 New York Times bestseller and subject of the acclaimed major motion picture Bridge of Spies directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Tom Hanks as James B. Donovan.

    Originally published in 1964, this is the “enthralling…truly remarkable” (The New York Times Book Review) insider account of the Cold War spy exchange—with a new foreword by Jason Matthews, New York Times bestselling author of Red Sparrow and Palace of Treason.

    In the early morning of February 10, 1962, James B. Donovan began his walk toward the center of the Glienicke Bridge, the famous “Bridge of Spies” which then linked West Berlin to East. With him, walked Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, master spy and for years the chief of Soviet espionage in the United States. Approaching them from the other side, under equally heavy guard, was Francis Gary Powers, the American U-2 spy plane pilot famously shot down by the Soviets, whose exchange for Abel Donovan had negotiated. These were the strangers on a bridge, men of East and West, representatives of two opposed worlds meeting in a moment of high drama.

    Abel was the most gifted, the most mysterious, the most effective spy in his time. His trial, which began in a Brooklyn United States District Court and ended in the Supreme Court of the United States, chillingly revealed the methods and successes of Soviet espionage.

    No one was better equipped to tell the whole absorbing history than James B. Donovan, who was appointed to defend one of his country’s enemies and did so with scrupulous skill. In Strangers on a Bridge, the lead prosecutor in the Nuremburg Trials offers a clear-eyed and fast-paced memoir that is part procedural drama, part dark character study and reads like a noirish espionage thriller. From the first interview with Abel to the exchange on the bridge in Berlin—and featuring unseen photographs of Donovan and Abel as well as trial notes and sketches drawn from Abel’s prison cell—here is an important historical narrative that is “as fascinating as it is exciting” (The Houston Chronicle).
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateAug 4, 2015
    ISBN9781442390355
    Author

    James Donovan

    Born in New York City in 1916, James B. Donovan graduated from Fordham University and Harvard Law School. A commander in the Navy during World War II, he became general counsel of the Office of Strategic Services and was associate prosecutor at the principal Nuremberg trial. Mr. Donovan subsequently acted as chief counsel in major trials and appeals in over thirty states, and was an insurance lawyer and partner at Watters and Donovan. He was Democratic candidate for United States Senator from New York in 1962; served as general counsel for the Cuban Families Committee, obtaining the release of more than 9,700 Cubans and Americans from Castro’s Cuba; was president of Pratt Institute; and was president of the Board of Education of the City of New York. He died in 1970, and was survived by his wife and four children.

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    Reviews for Strangers on a Bridge

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      The legalese was a bit detailed…I forwarded through a few of those chapters. But the author tells a great story from the piece of history he provided to the Cold War. Great book
    • 5/5
      I thoroughtly enjoyed the book. Extremely well written, narrated. Enoyed discussions he gave, but totally agree with Supreme Court decision against his position.
    • 5/5
      This is a phenomenal mix of courtroom drama, legal arguments and spy thriller elements. The story is stranger than fiction and I found it impossible to stop listening. Clearly and intelligently written and extremely well read.
    • 4/5
      Strangers on a Bridge - the book that is the basis for the 2015 movie starring Tom Hanks, Bridge of Spies - is an excellent read but may be off putting for people not interested in courtroom procedure. Donovan is a lawyer and the story is true, well-written, and an insider's look at the court case that preceded the prisoner exchange of Abel and Gary Powers, the U2 pilot.About one quarter of the book focuses on the direct and cross examination that occurred during the trial. This detailed look at the questioning, as well as the relevant evidentiary objections, preparation, and motion practice, are inside baseball for lawyers. Law students will find the procedural elements of Donovan's tale to be interesting from the perspective of lawyer war stories. The book touches on spies, tradecraft, espionage practices in the 1950s but not like your typical cloak-and-dagger. Rather, these are explained - interestingly but mechanically - as part of the larger narrative around who Colonel Abel was.I found the book to be a fast read and quite enjoyable. I'm not sure that the courtroom procedural aspects would appeal to a broader audience, who might want to skip through and then read closely the last third of the book.