Into Tibet: The CIA's First Atomic Spy and His Secret Expedition to Lhasa

by Thomas Laird

Into Tibet is the incredible story of a 1949-1950 American undercover expedition led by America's first atomic agent, Douglas S. Mackiernan -- a covert attempt to arm the Tibetans and to recognize Tibet's independence months before China invaded. Thomas Laird reveals how the clash between the State Department and the CIA, as well as unguided actions by field agents, hastened the Chinese invasion of Tibet. A gripping narrative of survival, courage, and intrigue among the nomads, princes, and warring armies of inner Asia, Into Tibet rewrites the accepted history behind the Chinese invasion of Tibet. 8 pages of black-and-white photographs are featured.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, China, Espionage, Current Affairs

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

American photographer, writer and artist Thomas Laird has explored the art, culture, and history of the Himalayas since 1972. Based in Nepal for three decades, his reporting and photography have been published globally by TIME, Geo, Newsweek, Le Figaro, National Geographic, and many others. His non-fiction books include a history of Tibet written with the Dalai Lama, translated into 14 languages. Since 2008, he has worked to create the world’s first life-size images of enormous Tibetan wall murals. Fine art prints of these works have been the focus of several exhibitions and are held in both public and private collections.

Reviews

[Babak Fakhamzadeh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting for its subject matter: clandestine CIA operations in modern day Xinjiang province (China) and Tibet, during the 1940s. The book deals with two loosely related but separate cases, the United States' struggle to keep 'the bomb' from anyone but themselves and the plan to, covertly, support Tibet in fighting the impending takeover by the Chinese.
Laird writes a bit like the conspiracy theorists who publish in magazines like Nexus. Potentially interesting stuff, but he prefers words like 'mysterious' to 'unclear' and tries to make part of the book into an action-packed adventure, where he's not the right author for that job.

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic non-fiction book about our first nuclear spies, as well as how we handled things with Tibet. Not for everyone, but if you can wade through all the detail you will find an amazing story based on recently declassified documents. This basically focuses on US espionage from 1946-51 and deals with what was known as Inner Asia and Tibet. Blunder, blunder, blunder. We were hopeless and helpless. We had one competent man in the Kazak territory and he gets little or no help and eventually dies at the Tibetan border. We learn facts of how our newest weapons were literally handed over by the Nationalist Chinese troops to Mao's Red Army, how Chiang Kai-Shek most likely siphoned off close to $750 Million dollars from US aid back in that time period and may very well have used some of it to influence and support McCarthyism, how we again literally airdropped new weapons to Red Chinese after they invaded Tibet and we had no intelligence on the ground to tell us that the invasion took place. Many espionage and state department blunders, as well as folks who are part of this story and whom I am not sure I trust all of their version of events. But the bottom line is that if you are interested in US foreign policy and interested in how our policies were shaped in that region of the world then this is the best book I have ever read on the subject.

[Shizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating story reads like fiction but it's not. Also, a deep sigh to how history could be made different.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book peaked my interest following a Washington Post story about the first CIA agent killed in the line of duty. Apparently it had taken them upwards of 50 years to publicly acknowledge that Douglas S. MacKiernan was the first CIA agent killed in the line of duty (though he has been the "First Star" on their Wall of Honor for some time now). Conducting a quick Google search, the Wikipedia article on MacKiernan cited often to Into Tibet. This book was absolutely enthralling. I almost felt as though I was a CIA agent trekking across the Inner Asian plateau, sleeping in yurts and drinking butter tea. Plus, this book gave a previously unknown history of the secret atomic spy operations in place right after WWII. Laird's book is exceptionally researched, due to years of FOIA requests to the Department of State and CIA. I wholeheartedly recommend this riveting true account.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are interested in history, particularly recent cold war history, this is a must-read.

Written during the Golden Age of Spy Histories (the 1990s, when historians could access ex-Soviet archives, including those of the KGB, to cross reference with FOI releases from other countries: and when many of the players were still alive to be interviewed) the book brings as much to light as likely will ever be known about the colonial greed of China seizing nations of Central Asia.

It also highlights the incompetence, confusion and hypocrisy of the UK and USA politicians, as well as revealing some of the cruel indifference the CIA showed towards employees and their families.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this an utterly fascinating book. The first atomic spy searching Western China for a secret Russian uranium mine, then fleeing overland to Tibet.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book serves as a good primer to the modern history of Inner Asia. The author provides necessary background and context to understand the significance of this little-known journey of these five men from Inner Mongolia to Sinkiang to Tibet.

[Toggedout · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know how to rate histories, especially histories wherein the narrative line can't exactly be substantiated. I got confused with all the names, the dates, the sides and the goals. However, I got through it and I want to visit Tibet. Perhaps that's the best review I can give a history (as I'm a literature man). On the purely academic side, this book gave a nice contrast to the sugary lies we Americans have been fed about the US's benign presence in the world. If I were you, I'd read it.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book gave a great portrayal of a part of history that is little known. It was also a great story about real life spies that helped develop the history of the United States following WWII. The story progressed like a fiction work in that the author really developed the people to show their personality and what they were like through journals, letters, and a ton of historical research. I would definitely recommend to anyone interested in spy novels,or World War II history.

[Cary Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very engaging story of clandestine activity in the dawn of the atomic age. Douglas Mackiernan was the first CIA operative killed in the line of his duty, which took him to central asia to monitor the development of Soviet bombs.

[Robert Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent account of how, since WWII, the CIA has created enemies of the US around the world. Laird's personal experience living in the region adds a dimension that enriches his research and the insights which flow from both.