He was the author of numerous books which address unofficial and clandestine aspects of the 20th-century political history of countries in the Far East.
Born in Columbus, Ohio on April 15, 1937, Seagrave grew up on the China-Myanmar border, the fifth generation of an American family living in the Orient for nearly two centuries (his father was Dr. Gordon Seagrave, author of Burma Surgeon).
[1] He and his family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas and he attended W. B. Ray Highschool from 1953 to 1955.
[2] Seagrave worked as an investigative journalist in Asia, and he contributed to several major newspapers and magazines.
In its review of Gold Warriors: America's Secret Recovery of Yamashita's Gold, which dealt with allegations that post World War II the CIA had misappropriated billions of dollars of Japanese war loot (the titular Yamashita's Gold),[4] BBC History Magazine noted that whilst "numerous gaps remain.... this is an important story, with far-reaching implications, that deserves to receive further attention".