AGENTS OF DECEIT: Frauds, Forgeries, and Political Intrigue Among Nations

by Paul W. Blackstock ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

One of the most arresting sections of this book for people who must review and select books is called ""'Books for Idiots: False Soviet Memoirs.'"" The general reviewers come off no worse than the experts as far as gullibility is concerned, but the author's evidence leads to a suspicion that American agencies are entering a counter-espionage propaganda effort with Madison Ave. elan. The case in point is that questionable seller The Penkovsk Papers. The author's credentials as an investigator of printed evidence are peerless. He's a professor at the University of South Carolina, has been an intelligence officer and wrote the provocative The Strategy of Subversion (1964). In no way a sensational book, Agents of Deceit is an exposition of the methods of contextual analysis and documentation of the authority for materials which have been used and abused by governments and diplomats. He starts with the fraudulence of Peter the Great's last will, goes on to that lingering canard, The Protocols of Zion, and the disturbing effects of the highly suspect Zinoviev Instructions, which ""set back the normalization of Anglo-Soviet exchanges for just about five years,"" according to George F. Kennan, who supplied the appendix of this book. It is the careful discussion of current methods of falsifying records and confusing issues with manufactured evidence that is of first importance to serious students, responsible commentators and cautious selectors.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Quadrangle

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1966

Categories: NONFICTION