Saunders, Frances Stonor. The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of
Arts and Letters. New York: The New Press, 2000. 509 pages. First published
in 1999 by Granta (UK) as Who Paid the Piper?
If you ever had any doubt that "free" Western liberals were hiding as
much dirty laundry as the Commies they criticized, then answer this: Why was
a book of this caliber so long in coming? Why did it take an independent
film producer from London (she is also arts editor at New Statesman) to
write the best book on the CIA since The Invisible Government appeared in
1964 -- before she was even born? Are U.S. journalists and publishers simply
asleep at the wheel of history, or is something more sinister going on?
Is U.S. culture rot merely becoming painfully obvious, or are we getting
dumbed down by design?
Saunders is a relentless investigator, and she writes with a gifted
blend of reserve, irony, and passion. Her book is about how the CIA
massively funded cultural activities during the Cold War, including books,
journals, magazines, films, international conferences, and even Abstract
Expressionism. Although many of the foundations and conduits used by the
CIA were exposed in 1967, about 70 percent of the information in this book,
by Saunders' estimate, has never before appeared in print. It took her six
years of pursuing interviews, private collections of papers, and foundation
records (the CIA ignored her FOIA request). Truly a brilliant achievement.
ISBN 1-56584-596-X
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