The Search for the Manchurian Candidate: The CIA and Mind Control

Customer Reviews:

Required reading for every American .......2007-01-31

I'd recommend Search for the Manchurian Candidate to every American over high school age so that they may learn from these abuses. While John Marks bases his book on declassified documents that cannot be challenged, few if anyone in the mainstream media ever discuss these things. This fact clearly illustrates the degree of political corruption and major coverups that take place in our so called 'free press'.

Manchurian Candidate lists the CIA's use of prostitutes in luring unsuspecting 'johns' to CIA run brothels so that our intelligence community may monitor the affects of large doses of LSD given to these men without their knowledge. The CIA would also routinely give LSD to one another in order to monitor it's affects. Unfortunately this resulted in the death of CIA agent Frank Olsen who reportedly committed suicide after having an unexpected 'bad trip'. In classic CIA fashion, they tried to cover up his death and denied all wrongdoing. While the truth eventually came out, one has to wonder about the depths of their illegal activities we have yet realize.

While the book is highly detailed and well documented, it only scratches the surface as to how far our intelligence community will go in engaging in illegal activities. Overall it's a great book and I'd recommend it as a starting point for those who are unfamiliar with our government's ongoing MK-ULTRA program. For a more detailed (and disturbing) account of government sponsored mind control, I'd suggest A Nation Betrayed by Carol Rutz.

The CIA's Experiments in Mind Control........2006-02-03

If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable - what then? - George Orwell from _1984_.

_The Search for the "Manchurian Candidate": The CIA and Mind Control_ by John Marks published in 1979 is a somewhat dated account of the CIA's experiments in mind control. Marks obtained much of his material from documents released through the Freedom of Information Act; however, he had to actively pursue these documents and was involved in a lawsuit against the CIA in order to obtain much of his material. He notes that without the release of this material his research would not have been possible.

The author begins by noting the influence of World War II and Nazi science on subsequent investigations by the CIA, formerly the OSS. In particular, the discovery of the hallucinogenic (psychedelic) drug LSD by Albert Hofman of the Sandoz drug company in Basle, Switzerland was to play a central role in the coming experimental "science" of mind manipulation. The author outlines various sadistic experiments performed by the Nazi scientists and doctors on unwitting prisoners and explains how the Nuremburg Code developed. The author also explains the role of the intelligence operatives in the Second World War, including experiments with marijuana as a supposed truth drug, a whole arsenal of dirty tricks and assassination projects, and the attempt to psychoanalyse Adolf Hitler. Indeed, after the war, the intelligence community captured the surviving research by the Nazi scientists and attempted to sort through it for any scientific value it might have had. Next, the author turns his attention to the development of the Cold War, the subsequent paranoia that ensued over such alleged brainwashing as the case of Cardinal Mindszenty and the Moscow Show Trials, and the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency. The author shows how various projects including Projects BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE came to include mind manipulation technology, emphasizing the polygraph machine and hypnosis. The author next turns his attention to the experiments of G. Richard Wendt, who attempted to devise a truth serum as part of his "A" (for ARTICHOKE) treatment. The author also discusses the role of LSD, often given to unwitting experimental subjects as part of Project MK-ULTRA by the CIA and its role in the death of the scientist Dr. Frank Olson. As part of the CIA's experiments with LSD, Dr. Sid Gottlieb tested the drug on unknowing subjects including Olson. Later Olson was to develop signs of paranoia and depression, eventually leading him to jump to his death from a New York building. Olson's death was covered up by the CIA; however, it was later revealed that an allergist (who also experimented with LSD) had been treating him for depression (ironically!). The author next turns his attention to the development of various "safe houses" in San Francisco, run by the narcotics officer George White. White tried to develop techniques for turning enemy agents by using prostitutes. White also experimented heavily with LSD, marijuana, and other drugs on unknowing subjects. He frequently held lavish parties and then would spray LSD into the room through an aerosol spray and watch the effects of the drug from a post outside the room. Needless to say, White's experiments represent the ultimate in unethical experimentation with drugs as well as hypocrisy because White would frequently turn in common citizens to the police for possession of drugs. The author next turns his attention to the Mexican hallucinogenic mushroom and its role in the development of the 1960s counter-culture. Here, the author explains the theories of R. Gordon Wasson, an investment banker, who co-authored the book _Mushrooms, Russia and History_ with his wife Valentina Wasson about the role of the hallucinogenic mushroom in culture and religion. The author next turns his attention to brainwashing. Here, the author notes the role of the CIA in promulgating the theory of brainwashing, but also in attempting to create brainwashed subjects. The author also devotes his attention to "human ecology". Here, the author notes the unethical nature of various experiments on sensory deprivation in the CIA's efforts to depattern a subject. The author shows how the notion of a "terminal experiment" (i.e. an experiment that pushed a human being to their outer limits with no ethical strings attached) was developed by the CIA and was used to justify extreme experiments in sensory deprivation. The author also discusses the role of personality research including the Gittinger Assessment System of John Gittinger. Here, the author shows how Gittinger used his research in an attempt to control subjects based on their personality type as determined by his system. Finally, the author turns his attention to hypnosis. Hypnosis was used in the hope of creating the "Manchurian candidate", a perfect mind control assassin. This concept had developed out of a novel by Richard Condon where the Chinese communists had brainwashed an American soldier. It was believed that soldiers returning from a certain area in Manchuria had no memory of what had happened there, leading to the idea that the Chinese were brainwashing Americans. It should be noted that not all people are equally hypnotizable; however, the CIA believed that by developing the personality of a childhood playmate they could induce multiple personalities in an agent, thereby creating an effective mind control assassin. The author ends this book by noting the importance of the search for truth, particularly as it involves unethical experimentation on United States citizens by its own government.

This book offers compelling evidence regarding the CIA's role in mind manipulation. For all those who care about the future freedom of the human mind it is important to understand what has been done in the past and continues to be done in the name of research to justify covert operations.

A Classic !.......2004-10-07

John Marks has done a wonderful job of piecing together the available information on the clandestine operations done by the CIA in their attempt to accomplish mind control.He begins in the early stages of their program in the 1940's and carries it through until the last of the mind control programs allegedly was shut down in 1973.In this book the author covers topics such as brain washing, hypnosis, LSD experiments, and the very tragic death of Dr. Frank Olson (as a result of an experiment gone bad). I highly recommend this book if you are interested in what occurred during the CIA's secret attempt at creating "Manchurian Candidate's"

Truth Outpaces Fiction Every Time.......2003-01-03

I read this book when I was in high school playing hookey in the public libraries of Manhattan, NY. My public high school was That bad! At the time I knew nothing about the Korean War or the extremely brilliant Manchurian Candidate movie starring Frank Sinatra but I knew I was interested in governmental mind control plots and the CIA. I think this book was the first to show me that all fiction, no matter how FANTAStic is but a shadow of reality.

That concept really explodes when as the previous reviewer points out, we consider, that the book's author focuses on the CIA's involvement with MK Ultra neglecting that of the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, etc. etc. Its the etc.s that really count!! Most of us have such a vague understanding of what the CIA actually does much less that there are scores of such publically and privately funded "Intelligence" organizations. Readers of this book would probably also enjoy the book The Control of Candy Jones.

I think I learned about the Candy Jones book from this book and its certainly as weird, if not weirder, than any Philip K. Dick sci fi movie/book (Bladerunner "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"). Scary, chilling, true, tip of the iceberg and relegated to fiction. Stealth is important and we probably can't do without military, no less the Intelligence component of military. It would be great, however, to see people become literate on the subject of secret government mind manipulation and how it determines government and society.

controlling people.......2002-01-07

This is a very well written; book that detailing a lot of information about secret test conducted on controlling people. This book should go on the same shelf as "Body of knowledge", Puzzle Palace", and "Influence: Science and Practice ". In addition, if you are thinking about taking LSD, hallucinations, or smoking dope, read this book before you do.

Oswald's Trigger Films: The Manchurian Candidate, We Were Strangers, Suddenly?

Average customer rating:

A Simple but Important Contribution
Well Written Analysis
John Loken presents a very compelling argument
The Copycat Thesis
"Lee-How Bout Passing The Time By Playing A Little Solitaire

Oswald's Trigger Films: The Manchurian Candidate, We Were Strangers, Suddenly?
John Loken
Manufacturer: Falcon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Criminology | Crime & Criminals | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0964889730

Book Description

This study examines three presidential assassination films in their relation to the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy. They have long been neglected as potential factors in Lee Oswald's motivation. The study presents some major revelations. Oswald was definitely very aware of The Manchurian Candidate, from reviews, advertisements, and his daily walks and bus rides right past a Dallas theater (the Palace, on Elm near Ervay) where it played for one month in late 1962. It then played for a second month at other Dallas theaters, including the Texas, near his apartment. Since Oswald's wife Marina later reported that he went to movies alone during the same period, it seems probable that he even saw the film. Within weeks thereafter he bought his fateful rifle, a near-twin of the one featured in the film. In April 1963 he used the rifle when trying to assassinate General Edwin Walker, a nationally-prominent Dallas conservative. The attempt failed, but emboldened Oswald in his militant Marxism. Then, in October 1963, only days after learning that President Kennedy would soon visit Dallas, Oswald definitely saw another presidential assassination film, We Were Strangers (1949). He saw it on television and even watched it twice on the same weekend, October 12-13. Dallas TV guides prove that it was broadcast twice, Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, during hours when Oswald had access to a television and was known to watch it. Moreover, his widow Marina reported in December that he had seen the film twice. Finally, Oswald did not see a third presidential assassination film, Suddenly (1954, starring Frank Sinatra) in autumn 1963, despite some claims to the contrary, but he was also influenced by it, at least indirectly. In sum, this study strongly supports the lone assassin conclusion about Oswald by adding significant copycat factors to it.

Customer Reviews:

A Simple but Important Contribution.......2003-06-06

A quick, clear read, Loken's investigation provides a compelling look into this surprisingly sparsely considered area among the body of written work about JFK's assassination. The strength of Loken's thesis lies in the fact that he does not try to reach too far with or make careless assertions about the information he has uncovered. It's definitely worth a read, and its brevity allows for multiple ones.

Kudos to John Loken for his fine bit of research about this important area of assassination research. His book should added to those mythical "must read" lists of JFK assassination books which, oddly enough, seem to be conspicuously lacking any balance in terms of books that support the "lone gunman" theory. Oswald's Trigger Films provides one example of work that seems to be interested in providing objective, reasoned evidence and allowing the reader to draw his own conclusions about it.

Well Written Analysis.......2002-11-23

Establishing a motive for Lee Harvey Oswald in the assassination of JFK has always been a goal of those who promote the lone assassin view of that event. John Loken's "Oswald's Trigger Films: The Manchurian Candidate, We Were Strangers, Suddenly?" does not prove such motive of course. It does show, if one accepts the well-reasoned premise, that Oswald could have been "triggered" to act, at least in part, by films with a powerful visual impact.

The author shows that Oswald almost certainly did see the film We Were Strangers (with its subject of a revolution in Cuba involving an assassination plot) very shortly before the assassination. Further, Loken breaks new ground by proving that The Manchurian Candidate (starring Frank Sinatra and involving programmed assassins) was playing in Dallas for two months in late 1962. Oswald would have certainly known of the film through his reading of Time magazine (which he subscribed to) and newspapers, and had access to two theaters that ran the film.

Loken presents evidence that Oswald did not see the film Suddenly, another Sinatra thriller. This is unfortunate since that film with its images of an assassin at a window, a scoped rifle, and a dark limousine had the most potential for a psychological trigger. Still, Loken shows that Oswald may have been indirectly influenced by this movie's powerful imagery.

Today, we accept the fact that motion pictures can influence a person to commit a violent act (John Hinckley and the Columbine killers are two examples). Oswald's Trigger Films is a thought provoking and well-written look at Lee Harvey Oswald and three films that may have had a similar sway.

John Loken presents a very compelling argument.......2002-10-31

The bells went off in my head the very first time that I heard about John Loken's thesis. It immediately seemed entirely reasonable. So much so, that I'm flabbergasted that apparently nobody previously has dealt with this theme in a significant manner. ... Where did Oswald get the idea? The author contends that the impressionable and immature young man was probably influenced by three motion pictures, We Were Strangers (1949), Suddenly (1954), and perhaps most importantly, the Manchurian Candidate (1962) released only a year before the assassination.

"Not only did Oswald have a strong inclination toward such fantasies of intrigue," adds Loken, but he frequently imitated "what others had done or said before him." The author concedes that there's no proof that Oswald viewed the Manchurian Candidate, but it is very unlikely that this was the case. Moreover, he subscribed to a number of publications which highlighted this film starring Frank Sinatra and Laurence Harvey as the one chosen to assassinate the president. I don't think it to be out of line to place a special emphasis upon the latter actor's last name being Harvey. Sinatra may have felt so guilty about the possibility Oswald was influenced by the Manchurian Candidate that he made sure it was pulled from distribution for a number of years.

You must obtain a copy of Oswald's Trigger Films. It is mandatory if you are truly interested in further exploring the motivating factors behind the Kennedy assassination. Do not allow the author's lack of prestigious credentials deter you. John Loken has earned your respect. This relatively short book will not be deemed disappointing.

The Copycat Thesis.......2002-09-24

When one first learns of the thesis of this book, it seems pretty far-fetched: Oswald was influenced to murder Kenndy by the films he watched? Surely a man as disturbed as Oswald, who had already attempted a local Texas assassination, wouldn't need any more to jump to a larger target.

And yet, John Loken surprises. He makes a very convincing case for these movies being the inspiration for Oswald's desperate act of becoming infamous. He follows every thread he can find and doesn't spare us the details, whether they are ultimately convincing or obscured by time. It's a quick read (and priced as one) yet still contains supporting footnotes and photos of newspaper clippings. All in all, an unexpected idea fleshed out by facts. Well worth the read.

"Lee-How Bout Passing The Time By Playing A Little Solitaire.......2002-08-27

This is a strange and curious little book.....

The author's premise is that three films dealing with assassinations of political figures (Suddenly, The Manchurian Candidate and We Were Strangers)gave Lee Oswald some of the impetus to murder JFK...

An interesting thesis, but the problem with the book is though, try as he might, the author John Loken is unable to verify for sure that Oswald ever saw 2 out of the three films, making the point of the entire work sort of moot.

Loken also gives short shrift to many of the plot details of the films, two of which, Suddenly and "Strangers" are totally obscure and probably unknown to Mr. Loken's potential audience.

"Oswald's Trigger Films" is no 'War and Peace'...the text is only 40 pages, the rest given over to author's notes and local Dallas TV and movie listings...

Amazon.com

Richard Condon's 1959 Cold War thriller remains just as chilling today. It's the story of Sgt. Raymond Shaw, an ex-prisoner of war (and winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor) who, brainwashed with the rest of his unit by a Chinese psychological expert during his captivity in North Korea, has come home programmed to kill. His primary target is a U.S. presidential nominee. Made into a controversial 1962 movie with Laurence Harvey, Frank Sinatra, and Angela Lansbury.

Book Description

As compelling and disturbing as when it was first published in the midst of the Cold War, The Manchurian Candidate continues to enthrall readers with its electrifying action and shocking climax....

Sgt. Raymond Shaw is a hero of the first order. He's an ex-prisoner of war who saved the life of his entire outfit, a winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor, the stepson of an influential senator...and the perfect assassin. Brainwashed during his time as a P.O.W., he is a "sleeper" -- a living weapon to be triggered by a secret signal. He will act without question, no matter what order he is made to carry out. To stop Shaw and those who now control him, his former commanding officer, Bennett Marco, must uncover the truth behind a twisted conspiracy of torture, betrayal, and power that will lead him to the highest levels of the government -- and into the darkest recesses of his own mind....

Download Description

"As compelling and disturbing as when it was first published in the midst of the Cold War, The Manchurian Candidate continues to enthrall readers with its electrifying action and shocking climax.... Sgt. Raymond Shaw is a hero of the first order. He's an ex-prisoner of war who saved the life of his entire outfit, a winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor, the stepson of an influential senator...and the perfect assassin. Brainwashed during his time as a P.O.W., he is a ""sleeper"" -- a living weapon to be triggered by a secret signal. He will act without question, no matter what order he is made to carry out. To stop Shaw and those who now control him, his former commanding officer, Bennett Marco, must uncover the truth behind a twisted conspiracy of torture, betrayal, and power that will lead him to the highest levels of the government -- and into the darkest recesses of his own mind...."

Customer Reviews:

If Only George Bush Would Read It.......2005-09-25

This is really a classic tale of America's underbelly. A portent of the political assassinations of the Kennedy brothers and more, right up to today's political quagmire in Irag, New Orleans and North Korea. (Note: I believe it was first published in 1959, before the nominating conventions of JFK and Richard Nixon.)

It also says a lot about how we're all duped and brainwashed by today's media, politicians and school teachers.

My fervent desire is that Oprah Winfrey make this one of her reading club's books, and that George Bush read it and appear on her show to discuss what it means to him. Just make sure that Cliff Notes doesn't publish a simplified version, with talking points, first.

Alas, poor Raymond, I knew him well..........2005-01-29

Richard Condon's extraordinary novel about political upheavals, assassinations, and Communist meddling is probably one of the best politically based fiction books ever.

The story is about a man named Raymond and how, for political gain, he is mind washed into becoming a top political assassin.

That is mere formality, for this story is already well known. Now, this story is more known for the movie versions, original and re-make; however, as is often the case the book is even grander then the films.

I was enchanted by this story, as it still has at least some cultural relevance, (especially for those who lived during the assassinations of JFK and his brother RFK.)

In short, Condon directs us to look at more then just the crazy political system, but the whole wacky world. Thus, this is why the book is such a classic, and deserves and should be read by all.

A Boy and His Mother.......2005-01-16

Louis Menard points out his excellent introduction to The Manchurian Candidate that Richard Condon's novel is about control, conditioning, and manipulation. Raymond Shaw and his fellow G.I.s are captured in Korea, undergo "brainwashing", and are released believing that they, through the heroism of Sergeant Shaw, have been saved from a company of enemy infantry. The encounter never took place, of course, but that's the story that will win Raymond the Medal of Honor. However, Raymond has been conditioned to be the ulimate assassin. Meanwhile Major Marco, Raymond's commanding officer in Korea, has been having terrible nightmares in which he sees Raymond killing two members of their patrol in cold blood. He also sees himself and his patrol on a stage facing some high ranking Soviet and Chinese officals. The staggering nightmares cause Marco to start wondering if he, Raymond, and the others have been brainwashed. This leads him on a frantic investigation to discover the truth before something disastrous happens. Raymond can't recall any of what Marco has been dreaming about. He has been completely conditioned twice over -- once by the Pavlovian doctors and also by his mother, Mrs. Iselin, probably the most evil villainess in all of literature. She is the embodiment of Control and she savages anyone who gets in the way of her plans for domination. The Manchurian Candidate is very fine writing. Condon's style is eccentric but it is perfect for the bizarre, paranoid tale he is telling. His portrayal of Raymond as a damned soul is moving. Raymond, who is cursed with "crushing contemptuousness", is "impossible to like", but we can't help but be sympathetic to this young man who was never allowed to be himself, who was never allowed to feel. Mrs. Iselin is over-the-top, but who cares? She sends chills down your spine while providing some wicked humor. The Manchurian Candidate is a Freudian cocktail that will give you lots to chew on.

Wickedly Funny & Probably Closer To Home Than We'd Like.......2004-12-27

As Louis Menand points out in his astute introduction, most people today are familiar with THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE through the John Frankenheimer film--which was a critical and box office failure when first released in 1962 and which only came into its own with a 1980s reevaluation. The Condon novel, however, was both a critical and commercial success from the first instant of its 1959 publication, and although it has been in and out of print over the years it has never been less than critically well-regarded and tremendously influential.

Readers who come to the novel in the wake of the 1962 film or the later remake are in for a mighty shock. The story is essentially the same--a study in cold war paranoia concerning a Korean War hero who has been secretly programmed by Communists to precipitate an American political coup. But both the characters and the tone of the novel are utterly unlike anything either the original or the more recent film version suggests.

The characters are sick, twisted, perverted beyond imagination, often sadistic, occasionally drug addicted, and in one very notable instance given to fits of incest; the tone is that of a 1950s pulp thriller filtered through the blackest sense of humor to hit the page since Nathaniel West penned the utterly poisonous MISS LONELYHEARTS and DAY OF THE LOCUST in the 1930s. Whatever virtue exists is comparative at best, and innocence does not exist at all.

Condon is not a great writer--his style is too derivative for that--but he is a remarkably clever one, juggling idioms and shifting tones as he moves from the faintly improbable to the ludicrously impossible, sweeping away whatever objections you may have to create a portrait of a society where the strong consume the weak as a matter of course and indeed, without significant personal malice. It one very big, very bitter pill, and when all is said and done you'll roll your eyes, shake your head... and then, with an unwilling laugh... admit that if the full truth was ever made known about American politics, this would probably be pretty close to it.

Strong stuff for readers with imagination, but even the most hardened should brace themselves for the ride. Recommended!

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Let the English Teachers love this one... I'm outta here.......2004-11-30

This book is a good example of an author flaunting his formidable language skills instead of telling the story. In this book he digresses often into fanciful descriptions of things that do not have even the most remote relevance to the story. Read an abridged version or watch the movie, but don't subject yourself to the unabridged version.

Average customer rating:

The Manchurian Candidate
Richard Condon , and Louis Menand
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000HT2OCQ

Average customer rating:

"Marcus on movies"
"A Little Solitaire And Then Some!"
What's Marcus' day job?
Case of the Mad Historian
The other reviewers are Communist dupes

The Manchurian Candidate
Greil Marcus
Manufacturer: British Film Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0851709311

Book Description

"It may be the most sophisticated political thriller ever made in Hollywood," Pauline Kael wrote of The Manchurian Candidate, John Frankenheimer's terrifying 1962 political thriller about an American serviceman brainwashed in Korea and made into an assassin. Sophisticated to be sure, the film is also a headlong fall through the looking-glass of American politics and the most deeply prophetic film of the second half of the American century. There are unforgettable performances in The Manchurian Candidate from Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, and Angela Lansbury as an incarnation of murderous perversity. But Frank Sinatra is at the heart of the film, horrified, then devastated, by what he has to see until, finally, for Greil Marcus, he is "a man almost dead with sorrow and guilt." As Marcus reconstructs the drama, this is a movie in which the director and actors were suddenly capable of anything, beyond any expectations. He shows how The Manchurian Candidate has burrowed deeply into American culture, becoming at once an ineradicable piece of folklore and a mystery yet to be solved.

Customer Reviews:

"Marcus on movies".......2007-08-31

Few writers can blend American history, politics, pop culture, and "high art" more skillfully than Greil Marcus. Starting with his columns for _Rolling Stone_ in the 1970's, I have followed his writing career as he taken on subjects ranging from punk music to prophecy. He brings all his skills to bear in this lean, thought-provoking analysis of the classic 1962 political thriller.

"A Little Solitaire And Then Some!".......2007-04-21

I'm not too sure what to make of some of these negative reviews of Griel Marcus' brilliant analysis of "The Manchurian Candidate"...maybe these folks were reading another tome or turned over over the Queen of Diamonds in mid page...

Marcus' contribution to the BFI film series contains one of the most insightful looks at a classic motion picture I've ever read.........

Marcus begins by explaining how John Frankenheimer's 1962 masterpiece has become part of American folklore...

His examination of the performances, Frankenheimer's direction, Axelrod's screenplay, Dick Sylbert's set decoration and David Amram's amazing musical score is right on the money...

Of course he felt obligated to discuss the "Candidate" in the context of the American history that both surrounded and followed it (ie: McCarthy, the assassinations of the 60's; coupled with the fact that for a number of reasons the film was taken out of circulation for many years).

Marcus concludes that in the case of this amazing Cold War relic, everyone involved was 'working over their heads'...propelled by the material that was given them............

A conclusion that's impossible to argue with since Sinatra, Harvey, Lansbury, Frankenheimer et al subsequently never did another project that equalled what they did in the remarkable film.

What's Marcus' day job?.......2006-06-09

I rate it as 1 star, because zero (or less) is not listed as a choice. Mr. Marcus has proved, once more, that most film critics are essentially clueless. See the movie. Read Condon's book. Forget this drivel. If you think you have to read this book, check it out at the library.

Case of the Mad Historian.......2006-01-08

Well, this is an interesting case. I agree that Marcus has hijacked the BFI Film Classics Series for his own purposes, and that he likely achieved this through some sort of shamanic spirit possession that few of us will ever accept exist and many will brand as the noodlings of an idiot. But in my view, Marcus, though deeply deranged, is a real historian. He conjures paragraphs that manage to stir those of us alive right now to see the ways in which our deep cultural identity is intimately bound up with an unofficial version of the past that almost no one remembers. Maybe in his own mind he's trying to save us from falling so out of touch with our past that we would accept the kind of wholesale destruction of memory that Mao managed to prove only turns a civilization back a thousand years. Who knows. But it's dismissive to assume his ideas are meaningless just because they're all over the map. That said, yes he probably shouldn't be inflicting his visions on a readership who think they're buying something that would include specific information relavent to, say, a film student. Blame the series editor.

The other reviewers are Communist dupes.......2005-08-21

Okay, The Manchurian Cendidate is one of my favorite movies, and Greil Marcus is one of my favorite popular culture writers. So I suppose I have a bit of a blind spot. But I'm mystified by the venom of the other reviewers. The observation that the participants did their best work in this film didn't originate with Marcus...the same has been said of CITIZEN KANE. I thought the marriage of film and reviewer was inspired. So there.

Average customer rating:

The Search For The Manchurian Candidate
John Marks
Manufacturer: NY: Times Books, 1979
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0713912790

What Have They Built You to Do?: The Manchurian Candidate and Cold War America

Average customer rating:

A revelatory look at *The Manchurian Candidate* -- and the world it came out of

What Have They Built You to Do?: The Manchurian Candidate and Cold War America
Matthew Frye Jacobson , and Gaspar Gonzalez
Manufacturer: Univ Of Minnesota Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0816641250

Book Description

Considered by many to be the best political thriller ever made, The Manchurian Candidate is as entertaining, troubling, and relevant today as it was in 1962. Starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, and Angela Lansbury, and directed with probing insight by John Frankenheimer, the film was widely acclaimed as a masterpiece. Largely out of circulation for the next two decades, it acquired a well-deserved cult following until it was rereleased during the last year of the Reagan presidency, when its pointed satire of political and media manipulation seemed more timely than ever. In What Have They Built You to Do?—a key line of dialogue from the original film—Matthew Frye Jacobson and Gaspar González undertake an ambitious reexamination of The Manchurian Candidate, the 1959 novel by Richard Condon on which it was based, and—critically analyzed here for the first time—the 2004 remake directed by Jonathan Demme. Based on close readings of the film and broad investigations into the eras in which it was made and rediscovered, the authors decode the many layers of meaning within and surrounding the film, from the contradictions of the Cold War it both embodies and parodies—McCarthyism and Kennedy liberalism, individualism and conformity—to its construction of Asian villains, overbearing women, and male heroes in a society anxious about race, gender, and sexuality. Through their multifaceted analysis of The Manchurian Candidate (in all its incarnations), Jacobson and González raise provocative questions about power and anxiety in American politics and society from the Cold War to today. Matthew Frye Jacobson teaches American studies at Yale University. His books include Roots Too: White Ethnic Revival in Post–Civil Rights America. Gaspar González is an independent scholar and journalist in Miami. He has taught American studies at Yale University and film studies at the University of Miami.

Customer Reviews:

A revelatory look at *The Manchurian Candidate* -- and the world it came out of.......2006-12-02

Anyone intrigued by *The Manchurian Candidate* (1962) deserves to check out this book, which delves deep into the film's artistry and (I mean this in the best sense) its insanity too.

For those who simply love the film -- for its inventive visual sense, for its mix of camp and horror, for its witty dialogue, for its cockamamie yet gripping plot -- there's a lot to love in this book. There's all the newly unearthed backstory to the making of the film -- for instance, how Frank Sinatra threw himself into this Cold War satire of McCarthyism just after he'd felt the chill of the blacklist himself (he'd hired Hollywood Ten screenwriter Albert Maltz to adapt a novel about a US soldier executed for desertion, then been forced to drop Maltz and the project) or how Sinatra personally got the thumb's-up from JFK in order to convince United Artists executives that the film wasn't too anti-Soviet. And there's a lot of new analysis of the film itself too: the authors help solve one of the great mysteries of the film -- what the hell is the Rosie character doing in the train, and why does she fall for Frank Sinatra's Major Marco? -- by demonstrating, convincingly, that the film is patently misquoting from earlier train courtship scenes by Hitchcock (*Strangers on a Train*, *North by Northwest*), where men square off with an enigmatically curious fellow passenger. Dreaming about women's garden parties night after night, Major Marco has become a very strange kind of man -- and Rosie is there to draw out the strangeness.

Yet this is more than just a great book about a great film. It's also a wonderful primer on how the Cold War shot through American culture -- how Cold War ideas were the foundation even for films, say, made by anti-McCarthy directors like John Frankenheimer. It gets under the skin of the movie, you might say. So there's not only a fine discussion of how the film satirizes McCarthyism (which you'd expect), but also an illuminating discussion of how the film understands the threat and allure of Asian culture, leveraging Orientalist cliches throughout. I'd never really thought through the oddness of the film's opening scene, which is set in a Korean brothel, until I read this book. (Which brings up another interesting twist from the film's backstory: Khigh Dhiegh, who plays the viciously madcap Dr. Lo, was not Asian or Asian-American. Originally named Kenneth Dickerson, he was born to an Anglo-Eyptian-Sudanese family in New Jersey. That's a nice factoid but not too unexpected -- Hollywood in that period rarely employed Asian or Asian-American actors, even for Asian roles. More amazing is that Dhiegh, who played the Asian villian in countless roles, took up another Asian self in his offstage life: he founded a Taoist institute in North Hollywood and, until his death in 1991, conducted seminars on the I Ching and Eastern ways of knowing.)

A word to the wise: as the above paragraph might suggest, this is not your typical fan-driven book. It's juicy but also thoughtful and thought-provoking, raising a lot of questions about how the Cold War continues to hang over our contemporary moment. As someone who teaches the Cold War to undergraduates at the college level, I can't wait to assign it so that they can appreciate the unique genius of the film, and so that they might ask themselves, along with Raymond Shaw in the film, "what they've been built to do".

Average customer rating:

The Manchurian Candidate
Richard Condon
Manufacturer: Audio Language Studs, Canada
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0886468221

Average customer rating:

The Manchurian Candidate
Richard Condon
Manufacturer: The New American Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GY14SC

Average customer rating:

The Manchurian Candidate
Richard Condon
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000CRIIUU

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books