Robert Littell (born January 8, 1935) is an American novelist and former journalist who resides in France. He specializes in spy novels that often concern the CIA and the Soviet Union. Littell was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish family, of Russian Jewish origin. He is a 1956 graduate of Alfred University in western New York. He spent four years in the U.S. Navy and served at times as his ship's navigator, antisubmarine warfare officer, communications officer, and deck watch officer. Later Littell became a journalist and worked many years for Newsweek during the Cold War. He was a foreign correspondent for the magazine from 1965 to 1970. Littell is an amateur mountain climber and is the father of award-winning novelist Jonathan Littell. His brother, Alan Littell (born 1929), is also an author and journalist. He is the brother-in-law of the French writer Bernard du Boucheron. Bibliography Novels The Defection of A. J. Lewinter (1973) Sweet Reason (1974) The October Circle (1975) Mother Russia (1978) The Debriefing (1979) The Amateur (1981) The Sisters (1986) The Revolutionist (1988) The Once and Future Spy (1990) An Agent in Place (1991) The Visiting Professor (1994) Walking Back the Cat (1997) The Company (2002) Legends (2005) Vicious Circle (2006) The Stalin Epigram (2009) Young Philby (2012) A Nasty Piece of Work (2013) The Mayakovsky Tapes (2016) Comrade Koba (2019) Semi-fiction If Israel Lost the War (alternate history) (with Richard Z. Chesnoff and Edward Klein) (1969) Non-fiction For the Future of Israel (with Shimon Peres) (1998) Films and Television The Amateur (1981 film) The Company (miniseries) Legends (TV series) Awards The Defection of A. J. Lewinter. 1973 British Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger Award for fiction. Legends. 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the Mystery/Thriller category. References External links All Things Considered review of several books including Legends. January Magazine interview Feature: "On Writing Young Philby" in Shots Ezine November 2012 1935 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists Alfred University alumni American male journalists Journalists from New York City Newsweek people Writers from Brooklyn United States Navy officers American male novelists American expatriates in France 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state) 21st-century American non-fiction writers Jewish American journalists Jewish American novelists American people of Russian-Jewish descent 21st-century American Jews