all Products
Espionage
Hardcover Books
True Crime
Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese Secret Service
Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese Secret Service
Wakeman, Frederic
Select Format
Regular price
$90.76 USD
Regular price
$90.76 USD
Sale price
$90.76 USD
Unit price
per
Shipping calculated at checkout.
The most feared man in China, Dai Li, was chief of Chiang Kai-shek's secret service during World War II. This sweeping biography of "China's Himmler," based on recently opened intelligence archives, traces Dai's rise from obscurity as a rural hooligan and Green Gang blood-brother to commander of the paramilitary units of the Blue Shirts and of the dreaded Military Statistics Bureau: the world's largest spy and counterespionage organization of its time.
In addition to exposing the inner workings of the secret police, whose death squads, kidnappings, torture, and omnipresent surveillance terrorized critics of the Nationalist regime, Dai Li's personal story opens a unique window on the clandestine history of China's Republican period. This study uncovers the origins of the Cold War in the interactions of Chinese and American special services operatives who cooperated with Dai Li in the resistance to the Japanese invasion in the 1930s and who laid the groundwork for an ongoing alliance against the Communists during the revolution that followed in the 1940s. Frederic Wakeman Jr. illustrates how the anti-Communist activities Dai Li led altered the balance of power within the Chinese Communist Party, setting the stage for Mao Zedong's rise to supremacy. He reveals a complex and remarkable personality that masked a dark presence in modern China-one that still pervades the secret services on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Wakeman masterfully illuminates a previously little-understood world as he discloses the details of Chinese secret service trade-craft. Anyone interested in the development of modern espionage will be intrigued by Spymaster, which spells out in detail the ways in which the Chinese used their own traditional methods, in addition to adapting foreign ways, to create a modern intelligence service.
In addition to exposing the inner workings of the secret police, whose death squads, kidnappings, torture, and omnipresent surveillance terrorized critics of the Nationalist regime, Dai Li's personal story opens a unique window on the clandestine history of China's Republican period. This study uncovers the origins of the Cold War in the interactions of Chinese and American special services operatives who cooperated with Dai Li in the resistance to the Japanese invasion in the 1930s and who laid the groundwork for an ongoing alliance against the Communists during the revolution that followed in the 1940s. Frederic Wakeman Jr. illustrates how the anti-Communist activities Dai Li led altered the balance of power within the Chinese Communist Party, setting the stage for Mao Zedong's rise to supremacy. He reveals a complex and remarkable personality that masked a dark presence in modern China-one that still pervades the secret services on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Wakeman masterfully illuminates a previously little-understood world as he discloses the details of Chinese secret service trade-craft. Anyone interested in the development of modern espionage will be intrigued by Spymaster, which spells out in detail the ways in which the Chinese used their own traditional methods, in addition to adapting foreign ways, to create a modern intelligence service.
Accessories:
No Accessory
Publisher
UNIV OF CALIFORNIA PR
Bisac Major Subject
True Crime
Binding Type
Hardcover
Country Of Origin
US
Number Of Units
1
Length
9.26 Inches
Barcode Indicator
ISBN
Width
6.42 Inches
Publication Date
1970-01-01
Height
2.02 Inches
ISBN 10
0520234073
Weight
2.48 Pounds
Book EAN
9780520234079
Target Audiance
Adults
User reviews will be displayed here...
Related products or products you might find interesting
20% OFF
The Bible Recap: Deepen Your Understanding of God's Attributes from Every Book in the Old Testament
Cobble, Tara
$17.21 USD Shop Now
Art & Art Instruction
Art & Art Instruction
20% OFF
Architecture
Window Shopping with Helen Keller: Architecture and Disability in Modern Culture
Serlin, David
$121.96 USD Shop Now
Art & Art Instruction
Biography / Autobiography
Biography / Autobiography
Biography / Autobiography
Tales from the Dancefloor: Manchester / The Warehouse Project / Parklife / Sankeys / The Ha
Lord, Sacha
$30.00 USD Shop Now
Biography / Autobiography