Dave Davies

Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Anne-Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Teresa Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Yakundi, and Anna Bauman. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavey-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. For Terry Gross and Tanya Mosley, I'm Dave Davies.

Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Anne-Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Teresa Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Yakundi, and Anna Bauman. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavey-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. For Terry Gross and Tanya Mosley, I'm Dave Davies.

Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Anne-Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Teresa Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Yakundi, and Anna Bauman. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavey-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. For Terry Gross and Tanya Mosley, I'm Dave Davies.

This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies. The FX TV series The Americans portrayed a seemingly ordinary couple raising two children in a suburb of Washington, D.C., except that mom and dad were actually Soviet spies working on long-term assignment for the KGB.

This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies. The FX TV series The Americans portrayed a seemingly ordinary couple raising two children in a suburb of Washington, D.C., except that mom and dad were actually Soviet spies working on long-term assignment for the KGB.

This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies. The FX TV series The Americans portrayed a seemingly ordinary couple raising two children in a suburb of Washington, D.C., except that mom and dad were actually Soviet spies working on long-term assignment for the KGB.

In this scene, the couple, played by Matthew Reese and Kerry Russell, are talking after learning that their new neighbor is an FBI counterintelligence agent. The husband's telling his wife maybe it's time to give up their ruse and defect to the U.S. government.

In this scene, the couple, played by Matthew Reese and Kerry Russell, are talking after learning that their new neighbor is an FBI counterintelligence agent. The husband's telling his wife maybe it's time to give up their ruse and defect to the U.S. government.

In this scene, the couple, played by Matthew Reese and Kerry Russell, are talking after learning that their new neighbor is an FBI counterintelligence agent. The husband's telling his wife maybe it's time to give up their ruse and defect to the U.S. government.

The series, which earned a host of honors, including two Peabody Awards, was fiction. But our guest today, investigative reporter Sean Walker, has written a new book about the real-life espionage program that inspired it. Among others, Walker interviewed two members of the family the show was partly based on.

The series, which earned a host of honors, including two Peabody Awards, was fiction. But our guest today, investigative reporter Sean Walker, has written a new book about the real-life espionage program that inspired it. Among others, Walker interviewed two members of the family the show was partly based on.

The series, which earned a host of honors, including two Peabody Awards, was fiction. But our guest today, investigative reporter Sean Walker, has written a new book about the real-life espionage program that inspired it. Among others, Walker interviewed two members of the family the show was partly based on.

brothers who had no idea their parents were Soviet agents born in Russia, until the day when the boys were 16 and 20 that the FBI raided their home in Cambridge, Massachusetts and arrested their parents. We'll hear more on that later.

brothers who had no idea their parents were Soviet agents born in Russia, until the day when the boys were 16 and 20 that the FBI raided their home in Cambridge, Massachusetts and arrested their parents. We'll hear more on that later.

brothers who had no idea their parents were Soviet agents born in Russia, until the day when the boys were 16 and 20 that the FBI raided their home in Cambridge, Massachusetts and arrested their parents. We'll hear more on that later.

From the beginning of the Soviet Union, Walker writes, its leaders put enormous effort into training spies in the language and culture of targeted foreign countries and sent them on missions that could last for decades. The book explores the agents' efforts at espionage, but also the emotional strains they endured living a lie for so long.

From the beginning of the Soviet Union, Walker writes, its leaders put enormous effort into training spies in the language and culture of targeted foreign countries and sent them on missions that could last for decades. The book explores the agents' efforts at espionage, but also the emotional strains they endured living a lie for so long.

From the beginning of the Soviet Union, Walker writes, its leaders put enormous effort into training spies in the language and culture of targeted foreign countries and sent them on missions that could last for decades. The book explores the agents' efforts at espionage, but also the emotional strains they endured living a lie for so long.

The program largely fell apart with the collapse of the Soviet Union, but Walker says it's been revived in Russia under Vladimir Putin. Sean Walker is an international correspondent for The Guardian. He reported from Moscow for more than a decade and is the author of The Long Hangover, Putin's New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past. He currently divides his time among Warsaw, Kiev and London.

The program largely fell apart with the collapse of the Soviet Union, but Walker says it's been revived in Russia under Vladimir Putin. Sean Walker is an international correspondent for The Guardian. He reported from Moscow for more than a decade and is the author of The Long Hangover, Putin's New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past. He currently divides his time among Warsaw, Kiev and London.