Historical
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Agents of Subversion: The Fate of John T. Downey and the CIA's Covert War in China
Agents of Subversion reconstructs the remarkable story of a botched mission into Manchuria, showing how it fit into a wider CIA campaign against Communist China and highlighting the intensity―and futility―of clandestine operations to overthrow Mao.
In the winter of 1952, at the height of the Korean War, the CIA flew a covert mission into China to pick up an agent. Trained on a remote Pacific island, the agent belonged to an obscure anti-communist group known as the Third Force based out of Hong Kong. The exfiltration would fail disastrously, and one of the Americans on the mission, a recent Yale graduate named John T. Downey, ended up a prisoner of Mao Zedong's government for the next twenty years.
Unraveling the truth behind decades of Cold War intrigue, John Delury documents the damage that this hidden foreign policy did to American political life. The US government kept the public in the dark about decades of covert activity directed against China, while Downey languished in a Beijing prison and his mother lobbied desperately for his release.
Mining little-known Chinese sources, Delury sheds new light on Mao's campaigns to eliminate counterrevolutionaries and how the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party used captive spies in diplomacy with the West. Agents of Subversion is an innovative work of transnational history, and it demonstrates both how the Chinese Communist regime used the fear of special agents to tighten its grip on society and why intellectuals in Cold War America presciently worried that subversion abroad could lead to repression at home.
In the winter of 1952, at the height of the Korean War, the CIA flew a covert mission into China to pick up an agent. Trained on a remote Pacific island, the agent belonged to an obscure anti-communist group known as the Third Force based out of Hong Kong. The exfiltration would fail disastrously, and one of the Americans on the mission, a recent Yale graduate named John T. Downey, ended up a prisoner of Mao Zedong's government for the next twenty years.
Unraveling the truth behind decades of Cold War intrigue, John Delury documents the damage that this hidden foreign policy did to American political life. The US government kept the public in the dark about decades of covert activity directed against China, while Downey languished in a Beijing prison and his mother lobbied desperately for his release.
Mining little-known Chinese sources, Delury sheds new light on Mao's campaigns to eliminate counterrevolutionaries and how the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party used captive spies in diplomacy with the West. Agents of Subversion is an innovative work of transnational history, and it demonstrates both how the Chinese Communist regime used the fear of special agents to tighten its grip on society and why intellectuals in Cold War America presciently worried that subversion abroad could lead to repression at home.
Editorial Reviews
"In this gem of a book from one of our best northeast Asia experts, John Delury writes of a key episode from the Cold War years. Agents of Subversion is a cautionary tale of intelligence failure set against the backdrop of the evolving relationship between the United States and China."
-- Barbara Demick, author of Eat the Buddha
-- Barbara Demick, author of Eat the Buddha
Readers Top Reviews
Kathryn H
What you see on the news is a small glimpse of the overall picture. For example, could you explain all of who you are, where you've been, what has shaped and molded and influenced you in 60 seconds? Not at all. This book tells the real deep story of what really happened behind closed doors between governments of nations that impacted the lives of individuals. It isn't a pretty picture, but yet this is one story that has been told. How many others haven't, and/or are still going on currently? This book shows the start of a decision that led to rippling effects that crossed families, agencies, borders, nations, and generations from real documentation from one who's life bore the brunt of the results of the decisions around him. If only we'd learn from our mistakes so that others wouldn't suffer. A great read! Sad that it's based on a true story. *I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my own opinion*
Prof Tom PlateKat
Beyond helpful - So amazingly engaging. A much-needed spot-on balancing act. We cannot change perceptions of the U.S. without know how the U.S. is perceived. Brilliant book.
