"When Elizabeth Bentley slunk into an FBI office in 1945, she was thinking only of saving herself from NKGB assassins who were hot on her trail. She had no idea that she was about to start the greatest Red Scare in U. S. history.". "Bentley (1908-1963) was a Connecticut Yankee and Vassar graduate who spied for the Soviet Union for seven years. She met with dozens of highly placed American agents who worked for the Soviets, gathering their secrets and stuffing sensitive documents into her knitting bag. But her Soviet spymasters suspected her of disloyalty and even began plotting to silence her forever. To save her life, Bentley decided to betray her friends and comrades to the FBI. Her defection effectively shut down Soviet espionage in the United States for years.". "Bentley played a crucial role in the cultural and political history of the early Cold War, but she has long been overlooked or underestimated by historians. Even in her own time, journalists and investigators joked about her looks and character, portraying her as either a seductive siren or a vengeful old maid. But Bentley helped remake American politics. Her accusations led to the most sensational spy cases of the Cold War and convinced many Americans that homegrown radicals posed a serious threat to national security.". "For years, it has been difficult to assess Bentley's veracity. New documents from Russian and American archives now make it possible to determine when she was telling the truth and when - and why - she decided to lie. Far from a pathetic, lovelorn fool, she was a shrewd woman who succeeded in outsmarting both the NKGB and the FBI. This long overdue biography rescues Elizabeth Bentley from obscurity and tells her dramatic life story."--BOOK JACKET.