Steinbeck: Citizen Spy

Brian Kannard

Sep 2013 · Grave Distractions Pub.

About this ebook

This changes everything we thought we knew about John Steinbeck. After languishing in the CIA’s archives for 60 years, a letter is uncovered in John Steinbeck’s own hand that shatters everything history tells us about the author’s life. Written in 1952, to CIA Director Walter Bedell Smith, Steinbeck makes an offer to become an asset for the Agency during a trip to Europe later that year. More shocking than Steinbeck’s letter is Smith’s reply accepting John’s proposal.

Discovered by author Brian Kannard, these letters create the tantalizing proposal that John Steinbeck was, in fact, a CIA spy. Utilizing information from Steinbeck’s FBI file, John’s own correspondence, and interviews with John’s son Thomas Steinbeck, playwright Edward Albee, a former CIA intelligence officer, and others, Steinbeck: Citizen Spy uncovers the secret life of American cultural icon and Nobel Prize–winner, John Steinbeck.

•Did Steinbeck actively gather information for the intelligence community during his 1947 and 1963 trips to the Soviet Union?

•Why was the controversial author of The Grapes of Wrath never called before the House Select Committee on Un-American Activities, despite alleged ties to Communist organizations?

•Did the CIA influence Steinbeck to produce Cold War propaganda as part of Operation MOCKINGBIRD?

•Why did the CIA admit to the Church Committee in 1975 that Steinbeck was a subject of their illegal mail-opening program known as HTLINGUAL?

These and a host of other resources leave little doubt that there are depths yet unplumbed in the life of one of America’s most treasured authors. Just how heavily was Steinbeck involved in CIA operations? What did he know? And how much did he sacrifice for his country? Steinbeck: Citizen Spy brings us one step closer to the truth.

About the author

After pursuing a degree in Finance and Economics at David Lipscomb University, Brian ran small business concerns for three years and entered the world of corporate management in 1998 for an eleven-year tour. In 2009, Brian left his management career to finish his first book, Skullduggery: 45 True Tales of Disturbing the Dead, and in early 2010, opened the independent publishing house Grave Distractions Publications. In the last three years Grave Distractions has published over fifty books for nineteen different authors, including the works of Dead Sea Scrolls scholar Dr. Robert Eisenman of the University of California, Long Beach and American History Professor Dr. James T. Baker of Western Kentucky University. Brian also does freelance writing and his articles have been featured in such places as: Armchair General Magazine, CNN, Coast to Coast AM, Psychic Oracle Magazine, Red Ice Creations, Yahoo News, and Unexplained Mysteries. Brian is also a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Freemason and writes the esoteric themed blog, Grail Seekers. Assisting Brian in his work is his lovely wife Laura, son Robert, and unholy black cats Preacher and Mercado. Currently, Brian is considering a number of projects delving into Cold War mysteries.