| International Standard Book Number |
9780593447901 (hardcover)
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| International Standard Book Number |
0593447905 (hardcover)
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| Personal Name |
English, Charlie, author.
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| Title Statement |
The CIA book club : the secret mission to win the Cold War with forbidden literature / Charlie English.
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| Edition Statement |
First US edition.
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| Production, Publication, Distribution, Manufacture, and Copyright Notice |
New York [New York] : Random House, 2025.
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| Physical Description |
xxxi, 341 pages : black and white illustrations, maps ; 25 cm.
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| General Note |
Originally published as: The CIA book club : the best-kept secret of the Cold War. London [England] : William Collins, 2025.
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| Bibliography, Etc. Note |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-328) and index.
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| Formatted Contents Note |
Prologue: Teresa's flying library -- Part one, Hope (1980-1981): A snaggle-toothed thought machine ; Our friends down south ; The French connection ; An international spiderweb ; They will crush us like bugs ; The deal -- Part two, War (1981-1985): The night of the general ; This is big casino ; Citizens versus the secret police ; Raphael ; Ideas for getting out of a no-win situation ; Helpful ; Oh sh**! Reactionary propaganda! ; This turbulent priest ; The network -- Part three, Reckoning (1986-1989): The Regina affair ; A general, a lowly recruit, and all ranks in between ; Television free Europe ; High noon ; Bloody Feliks -- Epilogue: The best-kept secret.
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| Summary, Etc. |
"For nearly five decades after the Second World War, the Iron Curtain divided Europe, forming the longest and most heavily guarded border on earth. No physical combat would take place along this frontier: the risk of nuclear annihilation was too high for that. Instead, the war was fought psychologically. It was a battle for hearts, minds, and intellects. Few understood this more clearly than George Minden, head of a covert intelligence operation known as the 'CIA book program,' which aimed to undermine Soviet censorship and inspire revolt by offering different visions of thought and culture. From its Manhattan headquarters, Minden's 'book club' secretly sent ten million banned titles into the East. Volumes were smuggled aboard trucks and yachts, dropped from balloons, hidden aboard trains, and stowed in travelers' luggage. Nowhere were the books welcomed more warmly than in Poland, where they would circulate covertly among circles of like-minded readers, quietly making the case against Soviet communism. Such was the demand for Minden's texts that dissidents began to reproduce them in the underground. By the late 1980s, illicit literature was so pervasive in Poland that censorship broke down: the Iron Curtain soon followed. Charlie English narrates this tale of Cold War spycraft, smuggling, and secret printing operations for the first time, highlighting the work of a handful of extraordinary people who fought for intellectual freedom--people like Mirosław Chojecki, who suffered beatings, imprisonment, and exile in pursuit of his clandestine mission. 'The CIA book club' is a story about the power of the printed word as a means of resistance and liberation."-- Publisher's website, viewed on September 17, 2025.
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| Subject-Corporate Name |
United States. Central Intelligence Agency History 20th century.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Books and reading History 20th century. Europe, Eastern
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Information warfare History 20th century. United States
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Information warfare History 20th century. Europe, Eastern
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Publishers and publishing Political aspects.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Cold War Propaganda.
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| Index Term-Genre/Form |
Informational works.
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