That time when missionaries toiled as spies

(Photo/historynet.org)

You don’t typically associate religious people with the art of spying. But Matthew Avery Sutton will tell you different.

Sutton, the Berry Family Distinguished Professor in Liberal Arts and chair of the Department of History at Washington State University, is the author of the nonfiction book “Double Crossed: The Missionaries Who Spied for the United States During the Second World War.”

Sutton will present a talk based on the book at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the South Hill branch of Spokane Public Library, 3324 S. Perry St.

“Neither the missionaries themselves nor their religious agencies nor American military leaders felt comfortable acknowledging the wartime lying, deceiving, manipulating, and even killing that these religious activist operatives engaged in,” Sutton wrote.

As a result, according to a review in Publishers Weekly, “records relating to their activities were hidden, expunged, or destroyed …”

“This provocative book illuminates little-discussed history and raises larger philosophical questions,” continued the PW review. “It is an unusually fresh and intelligent addition to WWII literature.

Presented in partnership with The Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service, Sutton’s talk is part of the Speakers Bureau series of Humanities Washington .

For questions, call the library at (509) 444-5308.