Read the Wikipedia article.

• Dr. Wesley Britton, author of Spy Television, Beyond Bond: Spies in Fiction and Film, and Onscreen and Undercover: The Ultimate Book of Movie Espionage, writing in his live journal entitled thespyreport, says:

"It’s not often, these days, to get the news that a spy novel has earned a prestigious award. But Voices Under Berlin, a comic novel by T.H.E. Hill, about the goings-on around the Berlin Tunnel in the early 1950s, was among the award winners at the 2008 Hollywood Book Festival. . . . We cannot recommend the book more strongly, and will be pleased to help promote this outstanding contribution to insightful and original espionage humor."

Permanent link to the first journal entry.

In his introduction to an interview with T.H.E. Hill, Britton calls Voices Under Berlin "A Spy Novel that Breaks All The Molds.”

Throughout the Cold War, the divided city of Berlin was the epicenter of spy films and literature, especially in the hands of masters like John Le Carre’ and Len Deighton. For decades, we saw and read about Western agents sneaking in and Eastern defectors sneaking out of East Berlin—over, under, and through the most iconic symbol of the times—the Berlin Wall.

But T.H.E. Hill’s new 2008 Voices Under Berlin: The Tale of a Monterey Mary has nothing to do with such spy vs. spy duels in Germany. Instead, his subject is the long-neglected Berlin Tunnel of the 1950s and the cryptographers, linguists, and analysts sifting through intercepted intelligence from East Germany to the masters in Moscow. Better—Voices Under Berlin is, in fact, perhaps the funniest spy book ever written. It’s not a parody or satire of the 007 mythos nor is it a continuation of themes in the novels by the likes of Graham Greene or Eric Ambler poking fun at the ineptitude of clandestine services. Still, in the tradition of Greene and Ambler, Voices Under Berlin contains many literate qualities that make it a work of special consideration, worthy of an audience much broader than that of espionage enthusiasts or those interested in Cold War history.

From Britton's own condensation of the "Introduction" to the interview in a second journal entry.
Read the whole "Introduction" and interview here.

• “Voices was a treat to read because it accurately, amusingly, and respectfully captures—as never before was so well done—the carefree yet dedicated attitude of U.S. military intelligence linguists. With humor, Voices describes how intelligence folks successfully and honorably worked in Berlin, as they did worldwide, to defeat the Soviets in the Cold War.”
— Bruce Ford, veteran of Field Station Berlin in the 1960s, and webmaster of the FSB Veterans Group.

• Voices Under Berlin fills a rare historical niche, a time capsule describing firsthand what life was like for those whose fortune it was to conduct a schizoid Cold War during forty + years of “German occupational” insanity.
— James Dunning, a veteran of 7th Corps in the 1970s, who met his wife while stationed in Germany.

• Ray Wenzel, USAFSS 1963-67

"Reading some of the practical jokes in Voices immediately put me in mind of my tour in Turkey, when our new, unsuspecting operations chief was given a toilet paper, bridal-gown trail all the way back to his office. He never said
anything about it."

• From a review on Amazon.com:

"If you enjoyed the treatment of the Berlin Tunnel in Battleground Berlin and wonder what it must have taken to make it successful, you will enjoy this story. The hero has super language skills, and just as importantly, the requisite deep knowledge of the Soviet military and political system - the sort of person with skills needed to win the Cold War. And come to think of it, it's what the country needs to win the War on Terror: more dedicated experts, which is what makes the book relevant for today. Voices Under Berlin is a good read. You won't be able to put it down."

To read the rest of the review, follow me.

For more on the topic of the role of dedicated experts in the world of international politics, follow me.

• Voices Under Berlin is number one on Amazon's list of books tagged "Spy Novel."

• From another review on Amazon.com:

Hill "writes with a convincing sense of authenticity and, through the use of photographs of people and places depicted in the novel, gives the impression that this story is closely based on real events. [. . .] Unlike traditional spy fiction, Voices Under Berlin relies not on a character villain or white-knuckle plot to entertain. The twin villains here are bureaucracy and incompetence, and Hill exposes the danger they pose to military operations through a series of often-humorous incidents."

• From yet another review on Amazon.com:

"Captures some of the more amusing aspects of trick work in a field station during the Cold War, as well as life in Germany for ASA personnel. This work would be of particular interest to ASA and DLIWC alums."

From Tim Bazzett, author of Soldier Boy: At Play in the ASA:

"I served at other field stations in Germany in the 60s, 70s and 80s; and, while I never got to Berlin, there was much here that I could relate to, even though the book is a novel. Shift work, burn bags, treads, ditty-boppers, transcripts, QC-ers, day weenies, and that strange special language of DLI-trained Marys - half Russian, half English. Hill's book is like a jar of Prego - 'it's all in there.' And it's told with a stylistic blend reminiscent of Heller and Hooker and perhaps just a few tantalizing tidbits of Hamlet thrown in for good measure."

Read the whole review here.

• From the Fifty Book Challenge review of Voices Under Berlin:

"By far the strongest part of the book is the banter between the Americans and the Russians on the other side of the wire. Their voices are distinct and fun, and there were several points where I was laughing out loud. . . . the dialog and practical jokes amongst the men are well worth the read. I was actually sad when the book ended and I had to say farewell to these characters."

Read the rest of the review here.

• Follow me for a literary analysis of Voices Under Berlin.

• Read about Voices Under Berlin in the May 2008 issue of The Cold War Times. This is the quartely journal of The Cold War Museum. The journal is available for download in PDF format.

• Find outwhat they are saying about Voices Under Berlin over at Spione Wiki. where "Truth is found at the intersection of independent lies." This is a website that hopes " to identify connections across all source material concerning Cold War espionage, whether fictional or non-fictional, whether directly about spying or not."

• Robert Többe, a documentary filmmaker in Berlin writes:

"Voices under Berlin is really funny and gripping. I´m reading it with my girlfriend and she really likes it too. Reading your book, my girlfriend and I certainly wish to put these scenes into film ... my girl especially. She's a film-scientist and would like to provide most of my documentaries with re-enacted scenes... but just now it looks lean for filmmakers in Germany. We keep on reading and may still find something in your book to give us the definite argument for probable backers."

Visit Robert Többe's website: Nonfiction Film

"His dissertation adviser, however, had neglected to impart to him one of the key tenets of academia: avoid making decisions at all cost. If you made a decision, you might be held responsible for the consequences. There were always consequences. Even if things went right - which they did less often than pure chance dictated, because that is what happens when nobody is willing to take a chance and make a decision - credit was always given where credit was due, that is at the highest level of the hierarchy intelligent enough to claim it. This type of credit grab is not entirely without risk, because there could be consequences for not doing it sooner. If, on the other hand, things went wrong, which they often did - because that is what happens when you avoid making decisions and leave things to chance - the first order of the day was to find a scapegoat. If you had made a decision, you might be it. It's a lose, lose situation."

Quoted on the WesPack Clark Community Network.
(Emphasis added by the poster.)

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Berlin in Early Cold-War Army Booklets

This is the historical background behind Voices Under Berlin

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