Charles Cole has been a lifelong student of the Russian language and of Russian and Soviet culture, history, and politics. He graduated from an intensive, 18-month Russian Course at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, California, after which he served in signals intelligence with the Army Security Agency at a border listening post in West Germany monitoring Soviet military radio communications. In 1973, Cole returned to DLI to teach Russian to American military personnel and worked alongside hundreds of former Soviet citizens until retiring in 2002. While in California, he also served six years as a Warrant Officer in a U.S. Army Reserve Psychological Operations (PSYOP) battalion writing leaflets and broadcast materials targeted at Soviet forces in East Germany until 1991, at which time the Soviet Union dissolved.
After military service, he obtained a degree in Russian and German from Kent State University in 1972 and promptly joined a United States Information Agency (USIA) cultural exchange exhibit which traveled throughout the Soviet Union from July through December of 1972. This experience provided Cole with a solid understanding of Soviet Communism and its lasting impact on the lives of citizens forced to live under it. In his first book, “In Russian Wonderland: An American’s Odyssey in Soviet Russia,” Cole wrote about his experiences during the six-months he spent in the USSR from the viewpoint of a (then) young Russian-speaking American. It gives Americans a “bird’s eye view” of life in a socialist/communist society.
Cole’s new book, published in 2023, is entitled “America In Name Only” in which he uses what he calls “societal fingerprints” from a variety of utopian collectivist regimes throughout history to compare them with events, policies, and societal elements in vogue in our country today. He links past efforts from history with efforts of so-called “progressives” to “fundamentally transform” our republic into something which has proven on many occasions in a host of places over long periods of time to be utterly destructive.
This book uses historical facts and the author’s personal experiences to demonstrate how our country is drifting toward a place called “America In Name Only.” Things we’re witnessing today evoke some of history’s worst nightmares. The book encourages Americans to carefully consider what kind of country they wish to live in, and what kind of society they wish to pass along to their children and grandchildren.
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