Although his impact on 20th century American cultural life was profound, few people know the story of Norman Holmes Pearson. As a Yale professor and editor, he helped legitimize the study of American culture and the work of female poets like Gertrude Stein. At the same time, as a spy, and cultural diplomat, he connected the academy, the State Department, and even the CIA.
In his latest book, Code Name Puritan, Greg Barnhisel maps Pearson’s life from a childhood injury that led to a visible, permanent disability, to his wartime counter-espionage work neutralizing the Nazis’ spy network, to his powerful role in the cultural and political realms of Cold War America.
Greg Barnhisel is professor of English at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the author of Cold War Modernists and James Laughlin, New Directions, and the Remaking of Ezra Pound.
