📢 #WatchingTheJackals is 1 year old.
The reception has gone far beyond what I had expected (and Central Europeans aren't known for low expectations). Here’s a snapshot of highlights from the past 12 months.
A collective 🙏 to all who quietly made this happen. You know who you are.
1/4 ENDORSEMENTS
📕 🕵♀️ Very happily stunned that Chris Costa, Executive Director of International Spy Museum has put #WatchingTheJackals at the top of his 2025 "must read" list & called it "gripping".
👉 Check out the International Spy Museum's socials for Chris' reflections on his top 5 reads.
📕 🎄 📘 I am grateful to Walter Landgraf for including #WatchingTheJackals on this year’s @warontherocks.bsky.social Holiday Reading List.
It means a great deal to have the story recognised alongside such an impressive list of titles 👉 shorturl.at/fc6l1
🙏 to the GUP team & editors for their support
Fantastic speaking to Michael Young of Malcolm H. Kerr @carnegiemec.bsky.social about #WatchingTheJackals & lessons from Cold War CT.
👉 shorturl.at/v1tr1
Thank you for finding the time to write this fantastic review of #WatchingTheJackals, @thomasriegler.bsky.social!
Many 🙌 @nytimes.com for including #WatchingTheJackals in your Father’s Day roundup — in my favourite category, no less:
"For the dad who’s still talking about The Americans finale."
If you're shopping for the espionage aficionado in your life (or just yourself), see full list: shorturl.at/nov9V
📺 A new #BBCFour #Storyville documentary on #CarlosTheJackal now streaming on iPlayer. A sharp recap for those interested in the history & mythology of Cold War-era international terrorism.
Many 🙏 to the creators for bringing insights from 📚 #WatchingTheJackals to life on screen.
shorturl.at/JFUFh
1/ A warm thanks to @historians.org for hosting tonight’s Washington History Seminar on 📚 #WatchingTheJackals. It was a privilege to discuss this with @lucatrenta.bsky.social & Igor Lukes @bostonu.bsky.social.
🎧 #WatchingTheJackals is now on #Audible & in other audiobook stores near you.
Many thanks to @rbmediaco.bsky.social & #GUP for bringing this to life!
@kingscollegelondon.bsky.social / @warstudieskcl.bsky.social / @kcsi.uk / @camsecurity.bsky.social
📰 Very many thanks to @forbes.com Slovenskia & Milan Čupka for taking the time to discuss #WatchingTheJackals and #intelligencestudies.
shorturl.at/x3LoO
@warstudieskcl.bsky.social / @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social / @kcsi.uk / @camsecurity.bsky.social
✍️ "Of several recent books on covert operations, the most enlightening is Watching the Jackals."
— The New York Times.
What a lovely surprise — and an exceptionally generous review in @nytimes.com. Huge thanks to Thomas E. Ricks for the generous words about #WatchingTheJackals.
👉 shorturl.at/3EsFD
📚 Thrilled to see #WatchingTheJackals featured in @prospectmagazine.co.uk! 📚
Immensely grateful that #WTJ was included in the "Books in Brief: What to Read This March" section! A huge thanks to Pippa Crawford for highlighting some of the book's key findings.
See full review ➡️ shorturl.at/dyetP
Huge 🙏 to @lucatrenta.bsky.social for this thorough review of #WatchingTheJackals.
My fav part:
"...[CIA Director Bill] Casey who – reportedly – was a voracious reader would have benefited from Daniela Richterova’s excellent Watching the Jackals."
@kcsi.uk / @warstudieskcl.bsky.social
📣 Former #SIS Chief Sir Richard Dearlove on 📚 #WatchingTheJackals for @thespectator1828.bsky.social
"Richterova has immersed herself in the Kafkaesque Stb archives for a decade...For former professionals and historians alike, it is a fascinating exposé."
Full review 👉 shorturl.at/LSJ4E
🎙️ Thrilled to be on the #TrueSpies POD with #SPYSCAPE discussing 📖 #WatchingTheJackals!
We explore:
📂 the joys & traps of conducting research in Cold War archives
🕵️♀️ How Prague used it spies to interact with Cold War 'jackals'
⛓️ Why it never arrested any of them.
Take a listen 👉 shorturl.at/NHwia
🚨 Blog Post Alert: Communists, Spies, and their Covert Ties with Cold War Terrorists & Revolutionaries 🚨
🙌 to #KCSIInsights for publishing highlights from my 📚 #WatchingTheJackals - focused on #AbuNidal, the deadliest of Cold War “jackals” & why it matters today.
👉 Full article: shorturl.at/IfogC
✍ Huge thank you to Vladimír Ševela for his in-depth piece for Czech daily #Hospodárskenoviny, exploring the findings of 📚 #WatchingTheJackals & how Prague choreographed its dance with #ColdWar terrorists & revolutionaries.
Grateful for the brilliant analysis—do check it out! 👀📖
shorturl.at/qnbeY
🚨 Event Announcement! 🚨
On Friday, 31 Jan, I’ll be in conversation with Sir Richard Dearlove, former SIS Chief, discussing my new 📚 #WatchingTheJackals.
📅 31 Jan '25
🕔 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM UK time
📍 Hybrid: University of Cambridge & online
🔗 Register & see further details 👇
shorturl.at/JFiQB
Many 🙏 @lucatrenta.bsky.social for highlighting 📚 #WatchingTheJackals, which talks about how #Prague used the #StB as the regime's Swiss Army Knife - at times, to strike an alliance with the jackals; at others, to counter or oust them.
Controlling the #jackals proved challenging in both scenarios.
Picture taken at a lecture room at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. On stage are John Raine, Daniela Richterova, and Richard Aldrich. Slideshow displays archived travel documents.
At the book launch of #WatchingTheJackals by @drichterova.bsky.social, covering Czechoslovakia’s relations with Middle Eastern actors during the Cold War. A refreshing topic that’s rarely the centrepiece of syllabi but offers plenty of intrigue.
@kcsi.uk @warstudieskcl.bsky.social
🎙️ Thrilled to discuss #WatchingTheJackals on the incredible #Spycraft101:
📌 What support did Prague provide to #PLO?
♟️ How did its spies push out #CarlosTheJackal & #AbuNidal?
🕵 Did #StB recruit #BassamAbuSharif — key Palestinian figure who survived an Israeli book-bomb attack?
👉 shorturl.at/0l9eV
🎙️ Great talking to M. Wlachovsky, veteran diplomat & frmr Slovak Minister of Foreign Affairs, about:
📚 #intelligencestudies
🕵️♀️ #accountable & #effective intel communities
📕 #WatchingTheJackals
Brush up your Slovak & tune in 👇
shorturl.at/cwIuO
@warstudieskcl.bsky.social @camsecurity.bsky.social
🏅 Thrilled to share that #WatchingTheJackals has received a glowing 4/4 trench coats from @thecipherbrief.bsky.social Book Review!
Check out the full review at #TheCipherBrief:
www.thecipherbrief.com/book-review/...
@kingscollegelondon.bsky.social @kcsi.uk @warstudieskcl.bsky.social
The book cover of 'Watching the Jackals' authored by Daniela Richterova and published by the Georgetown University Press.
📚✨ Exciting news! Our #KCSI member, @drichterova.bsky.social's book #WatchingTheJackals is now out! 🎉
This gripping work unveils #Czechoslovakia's complex ties with #MiddleEastern terrorists during the #ColdWar. 🌍🕵️♂️ Based on declassified #intelligence files & #interviews, it’s a must-read! 👇
📚 #WatchingTheJackals is out today! 🎉
Many 🙏 to Tim Willasey-Wilsey, former UK counterterrorism advisor, for this fantastic inaugural review, which highlights the devastating effect of #ColdWar #terrorism & #Czechoslovakia's "innate conservatism" in its dealings with the #jackals
See link 👇
🎙️ Great pleasure talking to @ianwilloughby.bsky.social @radiopraguefr.bsky.social about 📗 #WatchingTheJackals, research in #Czech archives, #Arafat, #AbuDaoud & much more.
Take a listen 👇
@kingscollegelondon.bsky.social @kcsi.uk
#WatchingTheJackals uncovers #Czechoslovakia's interactions with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine #PFLP, led by the powerful #GeorgeHabash & the followers of its breakaway military mastermind #WadiHaddad, poisoned by #Mossad in 1978.
@kingscollegelondon.bsky.social @kcsi.uk
#WatchingTheJackals uncovers #Czechoslovakia's interactions with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine #PFLP, led by the powerful #GeorgeHabash & the followers of its breakaway military mastermind #WadiHaddad, poisoned by #Mossad in 1978.
@kingscollegelondon.bsky.social @kcsi.uk
Grateful to @coldwarpod.bsky.social for a fantastic discussion about #WTJ #WatchingTheJackals, out with #Georgetown University Press on 📅 2 January '25.
@kingscollegelondon.bsky.social @kcsi.uk
