About this title: On assignment to restore a 13th-century German chapel, Blackford Oakes learns that its owner is far more than a charming aristocrat. The charismatic Wintergrin is rousing his countrymen to reunite Germany. Now, Oakes must either pull the fatal switch on his friend, or find a way to change the rules. From the bestselling author of Tucker's Last Stand.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: Book Club (BCE/BOMC)
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York
Date Published: 1978
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Red boards with just a bit of rubbing. Page edges tanning. Interior clean and near fine. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday
Date Published: 1978-05
ISBN-13:9780385125420ISBN:0385125429
Description: Good in Poor jacket. DJ is well worn, with small tears on edges. Inside pages very good, clean, bright and tight. Unconditional money back guarantee. read more
Edition: Book Club Edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Date Published: 1978
ISBN-13:9780385125420ISBN:0385125429
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. 232 p. Audience: General/trade. Very good copy in very good dustjacket from a private estate read more
"I'm old enough to remember a divided Germany and, very dimly, the Berlin Wall. But today's world is rather different, so it is always interesting to read a book written during those decades of a divided Germany and a worldwide struggle between East and West. Stained Glass by William F. Buckley is one such story entrenched in the Cold War. It is full of secret agents, political intrigue and people talking to each other in code. I would compare it to a James Bond movie, except I've never seen a James Bond movie. So I'll say instead that it is almost what I've always expected a James Bond movie to be, only with an American secret agent, and a larger vocabulary (I had to use a dictionary twice to figure out a word, when I don't usually look up new words while reading, but rely on the context to give me the meaning).
Blackford Oakes is an American secret agent, and he is sent to West Germany to shadow Count Axel Wintergren, a German who is running for the chancellorship and whose platform consists of one plank: unification of East and West Germany. Because Wintergren threatens violence to achieve his aims, the goverments in Washington and Moscow get nervous. Moscow accuses Washington of supporting Wintergren, while Oakes' superiors in Washington are worried that Wintergren will start a third world war, not 10 years after the conclusion of the second. When Moscow discovers Oakes, it raises a host of questions: is there a Russian agent in Wintergren's entourage? Will that agent try to kill Wintergren? And can Wintergren win the election?
Stained Glass was an interesting book and a radical departure from what I usually read. Maybe I'll give another spy-thriller a try. Maybe I'll even try a James Bond novel..."
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