The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature by Charlie English
The CIA had a small clandestine operation to funnel books to eastern block underground. These would include various books like 1984, that the sensors had banned. This was a low budget operation on the part of the CIA, with most of the Eastern Europeans not knowing the true source of the books.
This book focusses on publishing in Poland in the late 1980s. The solidarity union had come into being and got some key concessions out of the communist government. Shortly thereafter, the government took those back and started a crackdown on publshing and freedom. This lead to more clandestine operations to smuggle in literature and printing presses. Additionally, the rise of VCRs and satelite video transmissions provided another source of "contraband." Smugglers worked to bring in material by various means. Many of the anecdotes would be fitting in a cold war thriller. Poland eventually aquiesed to free elections, and through the help of publishing, the oposition swept into power.
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