From the persecution of local priests to an assassination order against Pope John Paul II, signed by Gorbachev himself, lifetime journalist and advisor to President Reagan John Koehler has put together a startling history of the Soviet Union’s espionage and violence against the Catholic Church. With never before seen documents and transcripts, including the order against the Pope signed by Gorbachev and nine other Politbureau members, Koehler shows how large a threat the Soviets perceived the Catholic Church to be to stability in Eastern Europe. However paranoid, there was some truth to their suspicions, as the Pope’s visit to heavily Catholic Poland in the 1980’s triggered the beginning of the Solidarity movement in the Eastern Bloc countries.