The Cultural Cold War
The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters
Published on 5. November 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
448 pages
978-1-59558-914-9 (ISBN)
Description
During the Cold War, freedom of expression was vaunted as liberal democracy's most cherished possession-but such freedom was put in service of a hidden agenda. In The Cultural Cold War, Frances Stonor Saunders reveals the extraordinary efforts of a secret campaign in which some of the most vocal exponents of intellectual freedom in the West were working for or subsidized by the CIA-whether they knew it or not.
Called "the most comprehensive account yet of the [CIA's] activities between 1947 and 1967" by the New York Times, the book presents shocking evidence of the CIA's undercover program of cultural interventions in Western Europe and at home, drawing together declassified documents and exclusive interviews to expose the CIA's astonishing campaign to deploy the likes of Hannah Arendt, Isaiah Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Robert Lowell, George Orwell, and Jackson Pollock as weapons in the Cold War. Translated into ten languages, this classic work-now with a new preface by the author-is "a real contribution to popular understanding of the postwar period" (The Wall Street Journal), and its story of covert cultural efforts to win hearts and minds continues to be relevant today.
Called "the most comprehensive account yet of the [CIA's] activities between 1947 and 1967" by the New York Times, the book presents shocking evidence of the CIA's undercover program of cultural interventions in Western Europe and at home, drawing together declassified documents and exclusive interviews to expose the CIA's astonishing campaign to deploy the likes of Hannah Arendt, Isaiah Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Robert Lowell, George Orwell, and Jackson Pollock as weapons in the Cold War. Translated into ten languages, this classic work-now with a new preface by the author-is "a real contribution to popular understanding of the postwar period" (The Wall Street Journal), and its story of covert cultural efforts to win hearts and minds continues to be relevant today.
Reviews / Votes
"A tale of intrigue and betrayal, with scene after scene as thrilling as any in a John le Carre novel."-Chronicle of Higher Education
"A major work of investigative history [and] an extremely valuable contribution to the all-important post-World War II record."
-Edward Said, London Review of Books
"Avoids polemic and fits the fragments of elusive fact into a coherent and persuasive narrative."
-Lewis Lapham, Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Makes clear the sinuous interlocking nature of American governmental, corporate and cultural life . . . consistently fascinating."
-Michael Dirda, The Washington Post Book World
More details
Edition
Second Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 233 mm
Width: 154 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
630 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-59558-914-9 (9781595589149)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Frances Stonor Saunders is the author of The Devil's Broker and The Woman Who Shot Mussolini. She has worked as the arts editor of the New Statesman; writes and presents for BBC radio; and has written for Arete, The Guardian, Lapham's Quarterly, and the Los Angeles Times. She lives in London.