Born in Washington DC, I first studied zoology, then turned to Russian literature and history at the height of the Cold War. I went through the programs of George Washington University (B.A.), Manchester University (M.A.) & Princeton (Ph.D.). My works include two books on Soviet defectors: A DEATH IN WASHINGTON: WALTER G. KRIVITSKY AND THE STALIN TERROR (Enigma Books, 2004) and THE KRAVCHENKO CASE: ONE MAN'S WAR ON STALIN (Enigma Books, 2007). Also I co-authored a book on atomic espionage with a KGB colonel; my work in this area led to the Washington Post exposure of the Los Alamos Soviet agent Theodore Hall. After 9/11, I noticed a similarity between US interrogation practices and Soviet, and began to write about torture and intelligence in the global war on terror. See my article "Kill or Capture, Torture or Deceive" on the "Washington Decoded" website.Over the years I have translated ten books from Russian, and done co-translations from Spanish, Croatian and Italian. Most recent is a three-volume set of works by Lev Lunts, a young Russian writer of the 1920s. The titles are: THINGS IN REVOLT, IN THE WILDERNESS & JOURNEY ON A HOSPITAL BED.Future plans include books on the threat of extinction of the wild tiger, the threat to human life on earth and the search for extraterrestrial life. All three subjects are related. My e-book CAN POPE FRANCIS SAVE THE WORLD? was written in a burst of inspiration. I do not share the Pontiff's religion, but regard his mission to save Mother Earth as no less heroic than that of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to save Mother Russia.In spare moments I have posted 40+ book reviews on Amazon. See the review, for example, of Peter Altenberg, TELEGRAMS OF THE SOUL. Click my name there, and you'll see the other reviews, which are varied. Most readers tend to approve the reviews, but many disagree, which is good. The direct link is: http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A3GFITWD3Z7KBO?ie=UTF8&display=public&page=1&sort_by=MostRecentReviewI have one LISTMANIA: US Prisoner Abuse: Torture Films on DVD. You have to enter this exact title, because if you enter only "torture films" you'll get lists of all the chain-saw and slasher movies. The torture of terrorist suspects remains a crucial issue for the future of the United States, because its application removes all claim to American exceptionalism.