Martin Sixsmith

Martin Sixsmith in conversation with David Parker

Martin Sixsmith witnessed the end of the Cold War first-hand, reporting for the BBC from Moscow during the presidencies of Gorbachev and Yeltsin. In The War of Nerves, he draws on a vast array of archives and sources, as well as his own experiences, to take us into the minds of those affected by the simmering tensions and paranoia on both sides of the Iron Curtain. In framing the Cold War from a psychological perspective, Sixsmith throws fresh light on the personalities of the leaders in the East and West who presided over the conflict, and on the events that came to define it, from the Yalta Conference and the Berlin Airlift to the endgame of perestroika and Soviet implosion.

From 1980 to 1997 he worked for the BBC as the Corporation’s correspondent in Moscow, Washington, Brussels and Warsaw. He is the author of two novels and several works of non-fiction, including Philomena (which was the basis for Stephen Frears’ acclaimed film starring Steve Coogan and Judi Dench) and Russia: A 1,000 Year Chronicle of the Wild East.

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