Errand into the Wilderness of Mirrors: Religion and the History of the CIA
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Description
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. -- Provided by the publisher
Keywords
Cold War; Intelligence officers; Intelligence service; National security;
Document Type
Book
ISBN
9780226767406
Publication Date
2021
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
City
Chicago, IL
Department
Department of Philosophy and World Religions
Disciplines
Philosophy | Religion
Object Description
240 pages
Language
en
Recommended Citation
Graziano, Michael, "Errand into the Wilderness of Mirrors: Religion and the History of the CIA" (2021). Faculty Book Gallery. 507.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/facbook/507
