My Life as a Spy

Investigations in a Secret Police File

Nonfiction, History, Eastern Europe, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology, Political Science
Cover of the book My Life as a Spy by Katherine Verdery, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Katherine Verdery ISBN: 9780822371908
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: April 19, 2018
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Katherine Verdery
ISBN: 9780822371908
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: April 19, 2018
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

As Katherine Verdery observes, "There's nothing like reading your secret police file to make you wonder who you really are." In 1973 Verdery began her doctoral fieldwork in the Transylvanian region of Romania, ruled at the time by communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. She returned several times over the next twenty-five years, during which time the secret police—the Securitate—compiled a massive surveillance file on her. Reading through its 2,781 pages, she learned that she was "actually" a spy, a CIA agent, a Hungarian agitator, and a friend of dissidents: in short, an enemy of Romania. In My Life as a Spy she analyzes her file alongside her original field notes and conversations with Securitate officers. Verdery also talks with some of the informers who were close friends, learning the complex circumstances that led them to report on her, and considers how fieldwork and spying can be easily confused. Part memoir, part detective story, part anthropological analysis, My Life as a Spy offers a personal account of how government surveillance worked during the Cold War and how Verdery experienced living under it.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

As Katherine Verdery observes, "There's nothing like reading your secret police file to make you wonder who you really are." In 1973 Verdery began her doctoral fieldwork in the Transylvanian region of Romania, ruled at the time by communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. She returned several times over the next twenty-five years, during which time the secret police—the Securitate—compiled a massive surveillance file on her. Reading through its 2,781 pages, she learned that she was "actually" a spy, a CIA agent, a Hungarian agitator, and a friend of dissidents: in short, an enemy of Romania. In My Life as a Spy she analyzes her file alongside her original field notes and conversations with Securitate officers. Verdery also talks with some of the informers who were close friends, learning the complex circumstances that led them to report on her, and considers how fieldwork and spying can be easily confused. Part memoir, part detective story, part anthropological analysis, My Life as a Spy offers a personal account of how government surveillance worked during the Cold War and how Verdery experienced living under it.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book Infrastructure, Environment, and Life in the Anthropocene by Katherine Verdery
Cover of the book Adopted Territory by Katherine Verdery
Cover of the book Listening to Images by Katherine Verdery
Cover of the book Other Cities, Other Worlds by Katherine Verdery
Cover of the book The Skin of the Film by Katherine Verdery
Cover of the book The Other Side of the Popular by Katherine Verdery
Cover of the book Colored Amazons by Katherine Verdery
Cover of the book Ruins of Modernity by Katherine Verdery
Cover of the book Revolutionary Medicine by Katherine Verdery
Cover of the book Fables of Power by Katherine Verdery
Cover of the book Securing the City by Katherine Verdery
Cover of the book Autonomy by Katherine Verdery
Cover of the book Missing by Katherine Verdery
Cover of the book Memoirs from the Beijing Film Academy by Katherine Verdery
Cover of the book Improvising Medicine by Katherine Verdery
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy