I read this in 2000 when it came out after seeing the author give a talk on C-Span BookTV about it. The CIA and the US government funded artists and intellectuals as an ideological campaign against the Soviets during the cold war. NYC artworld types like Pollock and Rothko were funded and touted by clandestine services to fight a charm offensive on behalf of the US and the west. Even intellectuals I admire like Bertrand Russell were unwitting recipients of CIA funding through laundered sources. It is an oddball and admittedly lighter side of the cold war.

https://youtu.be/-6791U1W7A4