The Spook Who Sat by the Door
New York: Richard W. Baron, 1969. First US printing. Hardcover.
Very Good book block and case with moderate shelfwear. Dust jacket is present and unclipped, showing scuffing, wear, and chipping. First US printing. 248 pages. 6" x 8.5”.
A satirical spy novel, The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1969) begins with a US Senator trying to curry favor with Black voters by pointing out that the CIA had no Black agents. As a response, the CIA recruits their first Black officer, Dan Freeman, as a token of their progressivism.
Freeman plays the part, kowtowing enough to avoid suspicion, and completes his training in guerilla warfare and espionage. Upon his retirement from the agency, he returns to Chicago where he organizes a local street gang into a disciplined, militant Black nationalist movement, using the CIA’s own training tools for Black empowerment and activism.
Author Sam Greenlee (1930–2014) struggled to find a publisher for the book until the small, London-based Allison and Busby took it on. Critical attention led to the US edition by Richard Baron in the same year. Neither was widely distributed and both first editions are scarce.
Price: $500.00