The Manchurian Candidate
The Manchurian Candidate , first published by McGraw-Hill in 1959, is the second and most famous novel by the American political novelist Richard Condon. The story of a American soldier brainwashed by Chinese Communists during the Korean War to be an unwitting political assassin, it was the basis for two films of the same name, in 1962 (by John Frankenheimer) and 2004 (by Jonathan Demme). The term "Manchurian candidate" has been in general use for some time now to describe a person who, impelled by some sort of exterior mind control, is programmed to carry out another person's agenda.[1] Along with some of Condon's other early works, such as The Oldest Confession and Some Angry Angel, it was the inspiration for a relatively short-lived Condon cult.[2]
Just to get the edition I'm using into the References for future footnotes[3]
References
- ↑ Maureen Dowd, the New York Times columnist, for instance, has used it at least four times in ten years, including July 2, 2008, when she wrote, referring to John McCain and Barack Obama, "In the warped imagination of some on the left and right, this is a race between two Manchurian candidates, the Vietnam Manchurian candidate and the Muslim Manchurian candidate." at [1]
- ↑ See two New York Times mentions at [2] and [3] and one from the Detroit Free Press at [4]
- ↑ The Manchurian Candidate, by Richard Condon, paperback edition, Signet, New York, November, 1962, fifth printing