Counter-insurgency as Magic: Edward G Lansdale, covert operations and the cultural Cold War

摘要

A considerable amount of hyperbole, mystery and intrigue has surrounded the career of the Edward G. Lansdale (1908-1987) the subject of this major new biography. Lansdale was once much admired by some liberal exponents in the US of modernization, development and counter-insurgency during the Cold War, though he fell out of favor during the Vietnam War to re-emerge as a possible key figure involved, for many conspiracy theorists at least, in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Indeed, anyone enquiring about Lansdale on Youtube will be confronted by intense speculation about Lansdale's possible involvement based on one rear photo of a figure resembling him walking along a fence close by the "three tramps" being led by some curious-looking policemen to the Dallas Police Station shortly after the assassination.