The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature
Description:
“An intriguing and little-known Cold War moment” (The Observer): the astonishing true story of the CIA’s secret program to smuggle millions of books through the Iron Curtain“English’s true tale of the federal government smuggling subversive books through the Iron Curtain sounds like a current-times call to action. . . . The book’s allure is intrigue, danger, and suspense in the service of meaning.”—NPR
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...