Eastern Approaches

Why it’s on the list: Maclean’s memoir in three parts — a young diplomat in Stalin’s Moscow during the show trials, the SAS in the Western Desert, then parachuted in to Tito’s partisans as Churchill’s envoy.

Where I saw it: In the reply thread to @typesfast’s question, “What’s the best history book you’ve read?” (June 5, 2025) — a crowd-sourced list Kyle recovered by hand and saved to his Apple Note “Books To Read”; the full set of replies lives on What’s the best history book… (tweet). It was listed there as “Eastern Approaches by Fitzroy Maclean”.

Connections

• Russia — The first section: Moscow during the purges.
• World War II — The second and third.
• Biography — The form.
• What’s the best history book… (tweet) — the thread this recommendation came from.