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.
Frances Stonor Saunders Livres





Who Paid the Piper?
- 544pages
- 20 heures de lecture
In the West during the Cold War, freedom of expression was vaunted as liberal democracy's most cherised possession. This text documents a secret campaign in which some of the most vocal exponents of intellectual freedom were instruments - whether they knew it or not - of America's secret service.
The Woman Who Shot Mussolini
- 384pages
- 14 heures de lecture
A gripping account of the life and fate of the woman who almost assassinated Benito Mussolini. 7 April 1926: on the steps of the Capitol in Rome, surrounded by chanting Fascists, The Honourable Violet Gibson raises her old revolver and fires at the Italian head of state, Benito Mussolini - the darling of Europe's ruling class.
Hawkwood
- 384pages
- 14 heures de lecture
The hugely acclaimed, best-selling life of Hawkwood, one of the outstanding figures of English and European history. John Hawkwood was an Essex man who became the greatest mercenary in an age when soldiers of fortune flourished - an age that also witnessed the first stirrings of the Renaissance.
The Suitcase
- 240pages
- 9 heures de lecture
Now she finds herself with the dilemma of two competing urges: wanting to know what's in the suitcase, and wanting not to know. So begins this captivating exploration of history, memory and geography, as Frances Stonor Saunders unpicks her father's and his family's past.