A Dearth of Eagles, by Andrew Bernstein

A Dearth of Eagles, by Andrew Bernstein. American Research Center in Bulgaria, Inc., Sofia, 2017. 159 pp. $20 (hardcover).

Andrew Bernstein’s new novel, A Dearth of Eagles, is a riveting story about Bulgarian freedom fighters in the late 1980s. The action alternates between a progressively more explicit contest of ideas in New York City and all-out warfare for freedom against a communist regime in Bulgaria. The juxtaposition of the disdain, dismissal, and condescension of New York academics and publishers with the overt violence of Bulgarian secret police and their victims is haunting. . . .