Feet to the Fire: Cia Covert Operations in Indonesia, 1957-1958

Conboy, Kenneth; Morrison, James

ISBN 10: 1557501939 / ISBN 13: 9781557501936

Published by Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 1999

About this Item

Quarto in dark green and black glossy illus jacket; 218 pages: illustrations, maps; 24 cm; bibliographical references (pages 175-208) and index. "Drawing on declassified documents and many interviews with CIA and Indonesian participants, Kenneth Conboy and James Morrison reconstruct the delicate, dangerous game played by American intelligence agents throughout Indonesia. It is a story of ideologues and soldiers of fortune - historic CIA legends like Allen Dulles and Frank Wisner, and notorious special operators like Tony "Poe" Poshepny, whose reputation later reached mythic proportions in Laos. Allen Pope, the indefatigable B-26 pilot who was captured and sentenced to die, also plays a role in the story, which includes transfixing exploits of Montana smokejumpers, Polish aircrews, Muslim anticommunist guerrillas, U.S. Navy submarine crews, and Filipino mercenary pilots flying P-51 Mustangs."--Jacket. // Military assistance, American -- Indonesia. Assistance militaire am?ricaine -- Indon?sie. Diplomatic relations. Military assistance, American. Politics and government Geheime agenten. CIA. Amerikanen. Interventie. Anticommunisme. Military assistance, American -- Indonesia. Assistance militaire am?ricaine -- Indon?sie -- 1945- . Espionnage am?ricain -- Indon?sie -- 1945-1970. Fine in Fine jacket (with wee bit of spine-sunning).

Seller Inventory # 93677

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Feet to the Fire: Cia Covert Operations in Indonesia, 1957-1958
• Publisher: Naval Institute Press, Annapolis
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1557501939
• ISBN 13: 9781557501936
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: Stated first printing.
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Asia
  • Asia/India

About this title

Synopsis

More than forty years ago the Central Intelligence Agency began a top-secret covert action campaign designed to hold Indonesia's left-leaning President Sukarno's feet to the fire and prevent a strategic crossroad from falling into the communist camp. In a fast-paced, engrossing narrative evoking the novels of John LeCarré and Graham Greene, the authors provide the first unclassified, detailed case study of an operation that has escaped public scrutiny for decades.

Review

Feet to the Fire fills a gap long closed to historians and outsiders interested in Indonesia. The authors' extensive interviews and apparent access to hitherto classified documents have filled in the lacunae on this controversial episode. The work stands alone in its detailed accounting of a controversial period in US-Indonesian relations. -- Col. John B. Haseman, USAF, Ret., U.S. Defense Attaché in Indonesia, 1990-1994

Conboy and Morrison have done masterful research, ferreting out documents and interviewing both American and Indonesian participants. A surprising number of former CIA agents appear here, and their input makes this an extraordinarily important piece of history. The authors found an exciting story, one that has never been told in this sort of detail. They know their subject matter and have produced a first rate work. -- Dale Andradé, historian at the Center for Military History and author of Ashes to Ashes: The Phoenix Program and the Vietnam War