THE CHINESE BLACK CHAMBER: An Adventure In Espionage. Introduction By James Bamford.

Yardley, Herbert O.

ISBN 10: 0395346487 / ISBN 13: 9780395346488

Published by Boston. 1983. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1983

About this Item

black & tan 1/2 cloth hardbound 8vo. 8º (octavo). dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. near fine cond. binding square & tight. covers clean. minor sunfading along bottom of cover edges. contents free of markings. price clipped dustwrapper in vg cond. spine faded a little, couple of 1" tears . nice clean copy. no library markings or store stamps, no stickers or bookplates, no names, no inking , no underlining, no remainder markings etc ~. first edition. first printing ( # 1 in # line). decorative title pg. xxiv+225p. cast of characters. NOTE: contains "Memories Of The American Black Chamber" by Edna Ramsaier Yardley. memoirs. autobiography. espionage. cryptography. covert operations. secret societies. conspiracy theory. world war ii. sino~japanese war. chinese revolution. chinese history. ~ Herbert O. Yardley is one of the legendary figures in the history of espionage. He founded and directed the famous "American Black Chamber" in World War I and thereafter. When Secretary of State Stimson in 1929 issued the infamous directive "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail," he destroyed the Black Chamber and with it much of America's intelligence capability. Yardley, then out of a job, turned to the typewriter and produced a book called The American Black Chamber. which told the story of our successful codebreaking operations~ to the anger and dismay of the State Department. In 1938, Chiang Kai~shek, fighting his desperate, retreating war against the Japanese, sent a message to Yardley to come to Chungking to set up a Chinese version of the signals intelligence operation that Yardley had headed in Paris and New York. Yardley accepted. Until June 1940, he worked in the remote, bomb~torn capital of Chungking. This book is the account of his intelligence exploits and, as well, a vivid description of a strange, mixed society under fire~a world where nobody was exactly what he or she pretended to be. European traders, generals' mistresses, Japanese spies, journalists, politicians, and many other types peopled the CIty where Chiang Kai~shek ruled. Because of State Department disapproval, this manuscript has lain hidden for forty~two years. It is now brought to light With a memoir by Mrs. Edna Yardley and an introduction by James Bamford, author of the best~selling Puzzle Palace. Jacket photograph of Chungking. China after the bombing by the Japanese; taken by Carl Mydans. Life Magazine 1941 Time. Inc.

Seller Inventory # 3021702

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE CHINESE BLACK CHAMBER: An Adventure In Espionage. Introduction By James Bamford.
• Publisher: Boston. 1983. Houghton Mifflin Co.
• Publication Date: 1983
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0395346487
• ISBN 13: 9780395346488
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • memoirs
  • chinese history
  • covert operations

About this title

Synopsis

A noted intelligence agent discusses his work for Chiang Kai-shek during the war between Japan and China in 1938, detailing his establishment of a "Black Chamber," his clandestine operations, and his relations with the Chinese echelon

Language Notes

Text: English, Chinese