Overview

In 1945, the twentieth-century wars paused. After thirty years of episodic slaughter, two nations remained standing: the U.S. and the USSR. Each arm itself with doomsday weapons. Stupored by unrelenting death, sobered under threat of nuclear conflagration, yet another generation groomed for The Long War. For much of the latter half of the twentieth century, the Soviet Union loomed as a brooding presence over American political discourse. To some observers, the Soviet Union was less threatening, to others more, but to all, it was a threat nonetheless. It was a state so obsessed and so successful with secrecy that it was impossible to perceive to what extent the threat against which the U.S. prepared so assiduously existed in reality or only in its fears. This was no accident, as the Communists were wont to say. The flip side of secrecy is deception. The Soviet Union may have had neither intention nor desire to initiate war with the United States; however, its widespread use of deception undercut that assiduously cultivated perception. On one fine day, the Soviet State imploded. Discussions of war between the Soviet Union and the United States, once chilling, disappear from memory. The Long War series examines the Soviet and American post-WWII war of deception through the eyes of four protagonists, who were but children when, in 1947, the Soviet Union designated the United States as 'the main enemy.' Each side sought advantage in a conflict where war was Armageddon. Thus, each sought advantage indirectly, by proxy war or perceptions management: theater, deception, lies, and bluff. Rarely-Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan-were the main force units committed. Richard Belisle and his French-Canadian childhood friend, Marie-Jeanne Charbonneau, cross paths and cross swords with Danton Larionov and Ekaterina Soroka. They trust and betray one another, give faith and deceive, and become fast friends and bitter enemies, each striving to live within a moral code in an immoral world. The novel series addresses deception in war and peace in a 20th-century world of contrived and real ambiguity.

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9781733882781

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Reviews

Author Praise ...Warm congratulations on the book. I took it with me on one of the late elgs of Hell book tour and though I'd just dip into it. But you caught me, man. Very compelling. And the line-to-line writing is first rate. Great job. Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction The son of an immigrant finds himself at odds with the old and new worlds. Spirit Falls tells the story of Ricky Belisle, a young man grappling with his first generation immigrant parents and his life in the north central United States, in Michigan and Wisconsin. When he finds himself responsible for survival of another during the great storm in Lake Superior, he learns the harsh realities of life quickly. Spirit Falls is a riveting read that shouldn't be missed. The Midwest Review of Books I downloaded Spirit Falls on my Kindle, just looking for a good read over the Thanksgiving break. It was free, so if it stank, I could tank it. Instead, I found a beautifully written coming of age story set in the Great Lakes Northwoods country. An Amazon reviewer

Author Information

Robert Townsend is among some of the few men in America familiar with the war of ruse and stratagem between the US and the USSR. His Long War series addresses decent people who make life-and-death decisions and are haunted by their mistakes and everyday judgment day. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1969, at the height of the Vietnam War protests, Townsend flew 130 combat missions in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. From 1982 to 1989, he was Deputy Chief of the Air Force Intelligence Agency, counter-deception directorate. He is among few men in America familiar with the war of ruse and stratagem between the US and the USSR. He is currently working on the Long War series addressing deception, war, and peace in a 20th-century world of contrived and real moral ambiguity. Townsend is fluent (more or less) in Russian and German; his French is--how to say?-- so-so. English? Patrice and Google spell-check this dyslexic left-hander. Townsend comes from a long line--father, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers--of soldiers, American and pre-American. Slavic on his mother's side and a deep-south redneck on his father's side, his parents managed money poorly and told stories well. Spare, pithy, lasting the duration of a Pall Mall cigarette, the tales were to entertain while teaching. No one is entirely useless, he was told. He can always serve as a bad example. He learned this lesson: Storytellers are treasured, liars are vexing, and both are often one and the same. The craft is shared; the objectives differ. However, when the skilled liar is armed, crazed, and planning Armageddon, ambiguity in matters of war and peace and life and death has vexed the earth. His stories and novels arise from family history, fables, and stories told around the kitchen table, as well as his own experiences in America's late 20th-century ambiguous wars, deceptions, and counter-deceptions. Fluent in Russian and German with a combat vocabulary in French, Townsend graduated from the University of Wisconsin (BA), studied at Freies Universitat Berlin (Certifikat), and received an MA from Georgetown University. Since leaving the intelligence business, he has turned his attention to writing stories and essays, an early passion that was waylaid by life and work. The Long War is a series of novels that address deception, war, and peace in a 20th-century world of both contrived and actual moral ambiguity.

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