Sunday Books & Culture - Fiction
Penny Parrish reviews Charlie English’s true story of how the CIA worked to bring down the iron curtain with books in “The CIA Book Club.”
THE CIA BOOK CLUB: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature
by Charlie English
Published by Random House (July 1, 2025)
Hardcover $23.68
Audiobook $14.95
Reviewed by Penny A Parrish
After World War II, much of eastern Europe was cut off from the free world and dominated by the USSR. People were not free to travel, to speak, or to read anything not approved by the Party. But it is through simple items like books that information is secretly passed to those who crave freedom. A man at the CIA, George Minden, knew that. He created ways to smuggle books, millions of them, through heavily guarded borders. The reading material was especially welcomed in Poland. When communism collapsed there, Polish dissident Adam Michnik maintained: “I am convinced it was books that were victorious in the fight…We should build a monument to books.”
What kind of books were sent there and how did they cross the borders? The files regarding the CIA book program remain classified, but the author was able to talk to several people who were involved in the program, or found letters and documents from those who received help from the United States. Censorship was so tight that “every typewriter in Poland had to be registered, access to every photocopier was restricted, and a permit was needed even to buy a ream of paper.” Yet brave Poles created underground newspapers and leaflets. They distributed books like Orwell’s 1984 and Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago. They also brought in popular magazines which gave a glimpse of life in other countries. Radio Free Europe played an important role as did TV and satellite dishes as technology advanced. Books, film, paper, ink, and supplies arrived hidden in tires, a baby’s diaper, inside refrigerator panels – the resourcefulness of the Polish people was astounding. The details read like a James Bond movie.
A few important people stand out in this book: Lech Walesa and Solidarity (My favorite underground PR campaign featured the poster from “High Noon,” the 1952 movie featuring Gary Cooper. Instead of a gun, he carried a ballot urging Poles to vote for the Solidarity candidates who won). Miroslaw Chojecki, a publisher and smuggling expert who was arrested more than 43 times. Helena Luczywo, editor of the Mazovia Weekly, who was able to skirt authorities because they didn’t believe women could actually report, write, and print the news.
My difficulty with the book was twofold: there is a HUGE cast of characters and keeping the lengthy and complicated (to me) Polish names straight became impossible. So I focused on what they did rather than who did it. By doing this I found it to be an amazing story of the importance of books and freedom of speech, of people standing up to tyranny, of resilience in the face of despair. There are many lessons in this book that translate to our country today, especially this one: “Words matter.”
Penny A Parrish is a local writer and photographer. You can see her pictures at www.PennyAParrishPhotography.com
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