Red Spy Queen: A Biography of Elizabeth Bentley
In August 1945, a 37-year-old woman named Elizabeth Bentley  walked into the FBI office in New Haven, Conn., and announced  that she was a Communist spy who controlled a vast network of  agents operating within the U.S. government. Her defection  precipitated the decade's first "Red Scare" and set off a chain  of events that eventually led to the execution of the  Rosenbergs. Despite her importance, however, Bentley has been  largely ignored by history. Olmsted, an assistant professor of  history at UC-Davis, corrects this oversight in an intelligent,  balanced biography of the woman the tabloids labeled the "red  spy queen." Bentley, Olmsted makes clear, was by no means a  doctrinaire Communist. She joined the CP-USA primarily because  she was lonely, and became a spy because she fell in love with a  Soviet agent named Golos. Bentley helped Golos with his work;  after his death, she took over many of his agents. But Bentley  was too erratic and independent-minded for Moscow (and a  hardened alcoholic as well). When she realized her Soviet  masters were plotting her "elimination," Bentley went to the FBI  and became what Olmsted calls a "professional ex-Communist,"  collecting sizeable speaking fees and frequently appearing  before Congress and on TV and radio. But Bentley soon faded from  the spotlight, undone by her emotional fragility and penchant  for lying. When she died in 1963, the world took little notice.  Olmsted's thoughtful account restores Bentley to her rightful  place and gives her all the credit and blame she deserves. 12  illus.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.