In 1955, Katharine Clark, the first American woman wire reporter behind the Iron Curtain, saw something none of her male colleagues did. What followed became one of the most unusual adventure stories of the Cold War. While on assignment in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Clark befriended a man who, by many definitions, was her enemy. But she saw something in Milovan Djilas, a high-ranking Communist leader who dared to question the ideology he helped establish, that made her want to work with him. It became the assignment of her life.
Against the backdrop of protests in Poland and a revolution in Hungary, she risked her life to ensure Djilas’s work made it past the watchful eye of the Yugoslavian secret police to the West. She single-handedly was responsible for smuggling his scathing anti-Communism manifesto, The New Class, out of Yugoslavia and into the hands of American publishers. The New Class would go on to sell three million copies worldwide, become a New York Times bestseller, be translated into over 60 languages, and be used by the CIA in its covert book program.
Meticulously researched and written by Clark’s great-niece, Katharine Gregorio, The Double Life of Katharine Clark illuminates a largely untold chapter of the twentieth century. It shows how a strong-willed, fiercely independent woman with an ardent commitment to truth, justice and freedom put her life on the line to share ideas with the world, ultimately transforming both herself - and history - in the process.
‘Katharine Clark was a pathfinder. From a conservative background, she was anything but as she challenged every obstacle that stood in her way-including the Yugoslavian Secret Police. An interesting read well told.’ - Nina Willner, author of Forty Autumns
Katharine Clark’s journey reads like thriller fiction, with all the heart-thumping tension and risk that only someone fighting against a powerful and oppressive government could appreciate, all the while battling the misogynistic culture of Depression-era newsrooms. She got her story all right, and we are privileged to hear it.‘ - Major General Mari K. Eder, author of The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line
'This is an excellent and unique book on several levels. It provides an authoritative account of an important Cold War episode, in which one of the most senior Yugoslav party leaders, Milovan Djilas, lost faith in Tito-driven governance and denounced its hypocrisy and oppression. The story of Katharine Clark’s willingness to challenge in real time the virtues of Yugoslav-style communism is an example of journalistic bravery. It is a remarkable read!’ - Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky, former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs
‘In this haunting and utterly necessary book that brings to life the print-and-typewriter age of journalism in Eastern Europe in the 1950s, Katharine Gregorio tells the nail-biting story of how Djilas’s greatest works were smuggled out of Belgrade to the West. Both timeless and rooted-in-place, it recreates a forgotten chapter of the Cold War.’ - Robert D. Kaplan, national best-selling author of Balkan Ghosts and In Europe’s Shadowas
