WTH Should I Read This Summer? "The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature" by Charlie English

Closing out What the Hell’s summer book series, we offer a timely
reminder of the value of free speech and critical thinking from a
time when it wasn’t taken for granted. Charlie English discusses
his book, The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold
War with Forbidden Literature (Random House, 2025). Charlie
chronicles George Minden’s 1980s covert intelligence operation
that smuggled literature into Poland from beyond the Iron
Curtain. From its Manhattan headquarters, Minden’s “book club”
secretly sent ten million banned titles into the East and
combated communist censorship, creating a vibrant culture in
Poland that would outlast the toppled Soviet regime. What is the
value of printed word in our society? Can ideas beat out on the
battlefield? Charlie reminds us they can.


Charlie English is a London-based non-fiction writer and the
author of three internationally acclaimed books. He has appeared
on NPR, the BBC and Channel 4, written for numerous newspapers
and magazines including the New York Times, the Guardian, the
Telegraph and the Independent, and given talks at Hay, Jaipur and
the Royal Geographical Society, where he is a fellow. Formerly,
he was Head of International News at Guardian News and Media.


Find The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War
with Forbidden Literature here.


Find the transcript here.