Eva Dillon

Eva Dillon spent twenty-five years in the magazine publishing business in New York City, including stints at Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, The New Yorker, and as president of Reader’s Digest, U.S. Dillon and her six siblings grew up moving around the world for her father's CIA assignments in Berlin, Mexico City, Rome, and New Delhi. She holds a bachelor’s in Music from Virginia Commonwealth University and lives in Charleston, South Carolina.

Dillon's new book is Spies in the Family: An American Spymaster, His Russian Crown Jewel, and the Friendship That Helped End the Cold War.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:

Khrushchev: The Man and his Era by William Taubman

I was inspired by my own book’s main protagonist General Dmitri Polyakov’s antagonism toward First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev to take up this fascinating biography, which left me both warm and cold to the man who wanted to be loved but was a victim of his boorishness and insecurities. Compelling is the contradiction, among many throughout his personality and life, in his devotion to Stalin both before and after his Secret Speech denouncing Stalin’s crimes. Not a quick read, but a lavish gift of detailed chronicle. And I could see Polyakov’s point.

Red Notice by Bill Browder

For me, this book is compelling to read now for two reasons: to pick up where my book left off (just before the fall of the Soviet Union) and as an insight into our current quest to know why (perhaps if) the Russians are so interested in Trump (follow the money, honey.) The story unfolds fluidly with just the right balance of personal intimacy (Browder is quite willing to admit when he’s being obtuse) and nerve-wracking drama – foreign investor vs. oligarchs vs. Putin. Alas, some things never change.

Learn more about Spies in the Family at the publisher's website.

The Page 99 Test: Spies in the Family.

--Marshal Zeringue