Errand Into the Wilderness of Mirrors - Religion and the History of the Cia

Informationen zum Autor Michael Graziano is assistant professor of religion at the University of Northern Iowa. Klappentext Reveals the previous underexplored influence of religious thought in building the foundations of the CIA. Michael Graziano's intriguing book fuses two landmark titles in American history: Perry Miller's Errand into the Wilderness (1956), about the religious worldview of the early Massachusetts colonists, and David Martin's Wilderness of Mirrors (1980), about the dangers and delusions inherent to the Central Intelligence Agency. Fittingly, Errand into the Wilderness of Mirrors investigates the dangers and delusions that ensued from the religious worldview of the early molders of the Central Intelligence Agency. Graziano argues that the religious approach to intelligence by key OSS and CIA figures like "Wild" Bill Donovan and Edward Lansdale was an essential, and overlooked, factor in establishing the agency's concerns, methods, and understandings of the world. In a practical sense, this was because the Roman Catholic Church already had global networks of people and safe places that American agents could use to their advantage. But more tellingly, Graziano shows, American intelligence officers were overly inclined to view powerful religions and religious figures through the frameworks of Catholicism. As Graziano makes clear, these misconceptions often led to tragedy and disaster on an international scale. By braiding the development of the modern intelligence agency with the story of postwar American religion, Errand into the Wilderness of Mirrors delivers a provocative new look at a secret driver of one of the major engines of American power.

Product details

• Authors: Michael Graziano, Graziano Michael
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.08.2023
• EAN: 9780226829432
• ISBN: 978-0-226-82943-2
• No. of pages: 240
• Subjects: Fiction > Suspense; Humanities, art, music > History; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; USA, RELIGION / Christianity / Catholic, True Crime, HISTORY / Military / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Intelligence & Espionage, 20th Century, TRUE CRIME / General, military history, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, HISTORY / United States / 20th Century, HISTORY / Military / United States, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, United States of America, USA, Espionage & secret services, History of the Americas, Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church, Espionage and secret services