There is a bit more moral ambiguity and political thought in Stained Glass (1978), Buckley's second Blackford Oakes novel. In this book, Oakes is assigned to destroy a heroic figure, a young man almost as handsome and courageous as Blacky himself who will reunite East Germany with West Germany. This takes place in 1952. Because of their fear of a world war for which the West is unprepared, the leaders of the United States do not permit Axel Wintergrin to challenge the Soviet Union by unifying Germany. Oakes is terribly upset about having to assassinate a man who considers him a friend, and who is incidentally also a second cousin of Queen Caroline of England.

He relieves his anxieties by making love to a gorgeous, superintelligent Russian agent pretending to be loyal to Wintergrin. He also does a certain amount of praying about his moral position and finally...