Washington D.C. is about 300 square miles surrounded by realty.

Even true believers had consciences, Too bad.

Civilians listened to officers, which said a lot about the intelligence of civilians.

Books and movies are different art forms with different rules. And because of that, they never translate exactly.

Suspense is achieved by information control: What you know. What the reader knows. What the characters know.

The most wounding insult to an educated Russian was to be called nekulturny-uncultured-yet the same men who sat in the gilt boxes at the Moscow State Opera weeping at the end of a performance of Boris Gudunov could immediately turn around and order the execution or imprisonment of a hundred men without blinking. A strange people, made more strange by their political philosophy.

Washington D.C. is about 300 square miles surrounded by realty.