"Henry Robinson Luce (1898-1967) founded Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated. Born in China to missionary parents, Luce was a kind of lay preacher, eager to mold the American mind and advance his ideological program of intervention, capitalism, democracy (when appropriate), and Christian activism. The most celebrated and influential editor of his day, Luce was also obsessed with the American mission in the world, and with China and East Asia. Luce tried to "sell" this mission to a sometimes reluctant public. A passionate anti-Communist interventionist, he also convinced Americans that the United States had perversely "lost" China to the Communists.

A fervent advocate of the Vietnam intervention, Luce, the author of the "American Century," edited incoming correspondents' cables so that the magazines might conform to his ideas. For the first time, we see how Luce accomplished this. Using hitherto inaccessible or neglected sources, Robert E. Herzstein produces a gripping portrait of a great but tragic figure in American history."--Jacket.