![](https://images.jacobinmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/15134524/1280px-John_le_Carre%CC%81_giving_his_thrilling_keynote_speech_35280372555-420x315.jpg)
John le Carré Told the Truth About Cold War Espionage When Few Others Would
John le Carré died Saturday at age eighty-nine. His novels rejected the glamor and ritz of Cold War–era spy fiction. Instead, he portrayed espionage as a dreary, disturbing machine that ground up innocents for a goal that didn’t justify the human cost.