<p>This episode of <em>The Live Drop</em>, I talk with <strong>James Stejskal</strong> — a former U.S. Army Special Forces operator from Detachment “A” in Cold War Berlin who later worked in intelligence before turning to history and fiction. He’s the author of <em>Special Forces Berlin</em> and the <em>Snake Eater Chronicles</em>, and his latest books — <em>The Ratcatcher</em> and <em>The Berlin Spy Guide</em> — bring that same mix of lived experience and deep research. We dig into <em>The Ratcatcher</em>, a Berlin spy novel that fuses counterintelligence, crime, and military thriller — following the murder of a CI officer and the hunt for a U.S. traitor--the premise of which comes from a real case buried deep in the Stasi files. James talks about class and culture inside Cold War espionage — Ivy League analysts versus scrappy gumshoe operators — and what it really took to recruit sources behind the Wall. We also get into his research adventures in the archives, Berlin’s Cold War landmarks including a McDonalds, and how today’s Russia mirrors old Soviet tactics through imperial nostalgia and opportunism abroad.</p><br><p><a href="https://jamesstejskal.wordpress.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>James Stejskal</strong></a></p><br><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Berlin-Guide-History-Story-Image/dp/1998501604/ref=sr_1_1?crid=13BC2SF8SP67A&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.TqDz1mv30J8C8Ry7v0LlyKMthnkwwQaRhDMTw00fuscgfKeFX72wbU_j7vVV0H87adRoaSFB6K0VVqogMUBWTgC27rhiR27jVUToIcq_6EkvNknjpLv0t-tAd_zqq9Ysneanp8u5lc9_mIQq-NMlSRZrgfAMnXCO9f1Blw4uOmNTtBMbFxJLGuAClAGhvNIRNJwQSjju-_JdGi_3SpXu04_4wcxk0C4j7sgO_zDvD34.PfccuZ5lyKBx9Q7JciXqotiyJO52uPopdRsZAQ1ZQ5I&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=berlin+spy+guide&amp;qid=1759850119&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=berlin+spy+guide%2Cstripbooks%2C113&amp;sr=1-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Berlin Spy Guide</strong></a></p><br><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ratcatcher-Berlin-James-Stejskal/dp/1998501280?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&amp;ref_=fplfs&amp;psc=1&amp;smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Ratcatcher of Berlin</strong></a></p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>