
The CIA Book Club
The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature
No se pudo agregar al carrito
Add to Cart failed.
Error al Agregar a Lista de Deseos.
Error al eliminar de la lista de deseos.
Error al añadir a tu biblioteca
Error al seguir el podcast
Error al dejar de seguir el podcast

Resérvalo en preventa por $20.25
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrado por:
-
Michael David Axtell
-
De:
-
Charlie English
Acerca de esta escucha
The astonishing true story of the CIA's program to smuggle tens of millions of books across the Iron Curtain—from George Orwell and Hannah Arendt to Agatha Christie—during the Cold War.
"A book is like a reservoir of freedom."—Adam Michnik, Polish dissident
For almost five decades after the Second World War, the Iron Curtain divided Europe, standing as the longest and most heavily guarded border on earth. With the risk of nuclear annihilation too high for physical combat, conflict was reserved for the psychological sphere. No one understood this battle of hearts, minds, and intellects more clearly than Bucharest-born George Minden, the head of a covert intelligence operation known as the “CIA books program.” This initiative aimed to win the Cold War with literature: to undermine the censorship of the Soviet bloc and inspire revolt by offering different visions of thought and culture to the people.
From its Manhattan headquarters, Minden’s global CIA “book club” would infiltrate millions of banned titles into the Eastern Bloc, written by a vast and eclectic list of authors. Volumes were smuggled on trucks and aboard yachts, dropped from balloons, and hidden in the luggage of hundreds of thousands of individual travelers. Once inside Soviet bloc, each book would circulate secretly among dozens of like-minded readers, quietly turning them into dissidents. Soon, underground print shops began to reproduce the books, too. By the late 1980s, illicit literature in Poland was so pervasive that the system of communist censorship broke down, and the Iron Curtain soon followed.
Former head of international news at the Guardian, Charlie English is the first to uncover this true story of Cold War spy craft, smuggling and secret printing operations, highlighting the work of a handful of extraordinary people who risked their lives to stand up to the intellectual strait-jacket Stalin created. People like Miroslaw Chojecki, an underground Polish publisher who endured beatings, force-feeding and exile in service of this mission and Minden, the CIA’s mastermind, who didn’t waver in his belief that truth, culture, and diversity of thought could help free the "captive nations" of Eastern Europe. This is a story about the power of the printed word as a means of resistance and liberation. Books, it shows, can set you free.
©2025 Charlie English (P)2025 Random House AudioLas personas que vieron esto también vieron...
-
The Fire Concerto
- A Novel
- De: Sarah Landenwich
- Narrado por: Katrina Lenk
- Duración: 10 h y 30 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
Clara Bishop hasn’t touched a piano since a concert hall fire nearly took her life a decade ago, ending her career as a rising star in the world of classical music. Significantly scarred and unable to play, she has turned away from everything and everyone associated with music, especially her ruthless mentor Madame, whom Clara blames for her injuries. Her life is upended when Madame dies, leaving Clara an unexpected inheritance: an ornate nineteenth-century metronome with a cryptic message hidden inside.
De: Sarah Landenwich
-
The Feather Detective
- Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne
- De: Chris Sweeney
- Duración: 9 h
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
The fascinating and remarkable true story of the world’s first forensic ornithologist— Roxie Laybourne, who broke down barriers for women, solved murders, and investigated deadly airplane crashes with nothing more than a microscope and a few fragments of feathers.
De: Chris Sweeney
-
I Want to Burn This Place Down
- Essays
- De: Maris Kreizman
- Narrado por: Maris Kreizman
- Duración: 4 h y 39 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
A debut essay collection by the inimitable cultural critic Maris Kreizman—an introspective, searing account of the life experiences that have pushed this former “good Democrat” even further to the political left.
De: Maris Kreizman
-
The Hiroshima Men
- The Quest to Build the Atomic Bomb, and the Fateful Decision to Use It
- De: Iain MacGregor
- Narrado por: Stephen McGann
- Duración: 13 h
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
The Hiroshima Men’s unique narrative recounts the decade-long journey towards this first atomic attack. It charts the race for nuclear technology before and during the Second World War, as the allies fought the axis powers in Europe, North Africa, China, and across the vastness of the Pacific, and is seen through the experiences of several key characters.
De: Iain MacGregor
-
The American Revolution
- An Intimate History
- De: Geoffrey C. Ward, Ken Burns
- Duración: 20 h
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
The American Revolution was at once a war for independence, a civil war, and a world war, fought by neighbors on American farms and between global powers an ocean or more away. Historian Geoffrey C. Ward ably steers us through the international forces at play, telling the story not from the top down but from the bottom up—and through the eyes of not only our “Founding Fathers” but also those of ordinary soldiers, as well as underrepresented populations, asking who exactly was entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
De: Geoffrey C. Ward, y otros
-
The Mission
- The CIA in the 21st Century
- De: Tim Weiner
- Narrado por: Stefan Rudnicki
- Duración: 16 h y 15 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
The Mission has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.
De: Tim Weiner
-
The Fire Concerto
- A Novel
- De: Sarah Landenwich
- Narrado por: Katrina Lenk
- Duración: 10 h y 30 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
Clara Bishop hasn’t touched a piano since a concert hall fire nearly took her life a decade ago, ending her career as a rising star in the world of classical music. Significantly scarred and unable to play, she has turned away from everything and everyone associated with music, especially her ruthless mentor Madame, whom Clara blames for her injuries. Her life is upended when Madame dies, leaving Clara an unexpected inheritance: an ornate nineteenth-century metronome with a cryptic message hidden inside.
De: Sarah Landenwich
-
The Feather Detective
- Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne
- De: Chris Sweeney
- Duración: 9 h
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
The fascinating and remarkable true story of the world’s first forensic ornithologist— Roxie Laybourne, who broke down barriers for women, solved murders, and investigated deadly airplane crashes with nothing more than a microscope and a few fragments of feathers.
De: Chris Sweeney
-
I Want to Burn This Place Down
- Essays
- De: Maris Kreizman
- Narrado por: Maris Kreizman
- Duración: 4 h y 39 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
A debut essay collection by the inimitable cultural critic Maris Kreizman—an introspective, searing account of the life experiences that have pushed this former “good Democrat” even further to the political left.
De: Maris Kreizman
-
The Hiroshima Men
- The Quest to Build the Atomic Bomb, and the Fateful Decision to Use It
- De: Iain MacGregor
- Narrado por: Stephen McGann
- Duración: 13 h
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
The Hiroshima Men’s unique narrative recounts the decade-long journey towards this first atomic attack. It charts the race for nuclear technology before and during the Second World War, as the allies fought the axis powers in Europe, North Africa, China, and across the vastness of the Pacific, and is seen through the experiences of several key characters.
De: Iain MacGregor
-
The American Revolution
- An Intimate History
- De: Geoffrey C. Ward, Ken Burns
- Duración: 20 h
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
The American Revolution was at once a war for independence, a civil war, and a world war, fought by neighbors on American farms and between global powers an ocean or more away. Historian Geoffrey C. Ward ably steers us through the international forces at play, telling the story not from the top down but from the bottom up—and through the eyes of not only our “Founding Fathers” but also those of ordinary soldiers, as well as underrepresented populations, asking who exactly was entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
De: Geoffrey C. Ward, y otros
-
The Mission
- The CIA in the 21st Century
- De: Tim Weiner
- Narrado por: Stefan Rudnicki
- Duración: 16 h y 15 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
The Mission has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.
De: Tim Weiner
-
38 Londres Street
- On Impunity, Pinochet in England, and a Nazi in Patagonia
- De: Philippe Sands
- Duración: 12 h
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
In this intimate legal and historical detective story, the world-renowned lawyer and acclaimed author of East West Street traces the footsteps of two of the twentieth century’s most merciless criminals—accused of genocide and crimes against humanity—testing the limits of immunity and impunity after Nuremberg.
De: Philippe Sands
-
World Enemy No. 1
- Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, and the Fate of the Jews
- De: Jochen Hellbeck
- Duración: 15 h
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
A major new history that transforms our understanding of World War II—tracing the conflict and its most infamous crime, the Holocaust, to Germany’s implacable hostility towards Soviet Russia.
De: Jochen Hellbeck
-
The Killing Season
- The Autumn of 1914, Ypres, and the Afternoon That Cost Germany a War
- De: Robert Cowley
- Duración: 10 h
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
An in-depth, authoritative account of the fall of 1914 on the Western Front and the First Battle of Ypres, a true turning point in World War I and in modern warfare—by the founding editor of MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History
De: Robert Cowley
-
Blank Space
- A Cultural History of the Twenty-First Century
- De: W. David Marx
- Duración: 13 h
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
Over the past twenty-five years, pop culture has suffered from a perplexing lack of reinvention. We’ve entered a cultural “blank space”—an era when reboots, rehashes, and fads flourish, while bold artistic experimentation struggles to gain recognition. Why is risk no longer rewarded, and how did playing it safe become the formula for success? Acclaimed cultural historian W. David Marx sets out to uncover the answers.
De: W. David Marx
-
The People’s War
- Unheard Stories: Life on the Battlefront and at Home in World War II
- De: John Willis
- Narrado por: John Willis, Christine Kavanagh, Rosina Aichner, y otros
- Duración: 13 h y 21 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
In The People's War, John Willis unearths untold stories of everyday bravery, moments of terror, and tales of life-affirming community, that guide us through the years of the Second World War. From soldiers in North Africa and prisoners of war in East Asia, to evacuees in the British countryside and women in the factories, The People's War is a truly ambitious and comprehensive journey through a devastating and pivotal period of our history, as you've never read before.
De: John Willis
-
The Blood in Winter
- England on the Brink of Civil War, 1642
- De: Jonathan Healey
- Duración: 9 h
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
In 1641, England exits a plague-ridden and politically unstable summer having reached a semblance of peace: the English and Scottish armies have disbanded, legislation has passed to ensure Parliament will continue to sit, and the people are tentatively optimistic. But King Charles I is not satisfied with peace—he wants revenge. So begins England’s winter of discontent. As revolutionary sects of London begin to generate new ideas about democracy, as radical new religious groups seek power, and as Ireland explodes into revolt, Charles hatches a plan to restore his absolute rule.
De: Jonathan Healey
-
The World of the Cold War
- 1945-1991
- De: Vladislav Zubok
- Narrado por: Rufus Wright
- Duración: 13 h y 16 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
In this comprehensive guide to the most widespread conflict in contemporary history, Vladislav Zubok traces the origins of the Cold War in post-war Europe, through the tumultuous decades of confrontation, to the fall of the Berlin Wall and beyond. Drawing on years of research and informed by Zubok’s three decades in the USSR followed by three decades in the West, The Cold War paints a striking portrait of a world on the brink.
-
-
Mostly a recitation of standard Cold War history
- De Charles Feigin en 05-31-25
De: Vladislav Zubok
-
Nazis in the New World
- German Students in the United States, 1933–1941
- De: Aaron Gillette
- Narrado por: David Colacci
- Duración: 10 h y 7 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
In Nazis in the New World, Aaron Gillette presents vivid narratives and personal accounts to reveal the unknown history of Nazi German exchange students sent to America in the 1930s. After receiving the Gestapo's stamp of approval, they were instructed to use their charm and charisma to promote the Third Reich. Some also served Hitler as covert operatives against the United States.
De: Aaron Gillette
-
Hitler's Deserters
- Breaking Ranks with the Wehrmacht
- De: Douglas Carl Peifer
- Narrado por: David de Vries
- Duración: 12 h y 28 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
After the WWII, Germans began a generation-long debate about the status that should be accorded Wehrmacht deserters. The topic would be debated between the two Germanies and engaged survivors and perpetrators, playwrights, and judges, those who had stayed in the ranks and those who had not. Was the Wehrmacht a coward, a victim, or a role model? The book's discussion of this postwar debate explains how and why Germany finally decided to overturn military court-martial verdicts from the Second World War fifty years after its conclusion.
-
Rain of Ruin
- Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the Surrender of Japan
- De: Richard Overy
- Narrado por: Ralph Lister
- Duración: 6 h y 5 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
In 1945, US air attacks in Japan killed 300,000 civilians in three hours of night bombing and two nuclear strikes. The firebombing of Tokyo in March burned almost the entire city, killed some 85,000 residents, and left more than 1 million homeless. The atomic blast in Hiroshima in August killed some 119,000 civilians and 20,000 soldiers. After a second nuclear attack days later in Nagasaki and a declaration of war by the Soviet Union, Japan accepted defeat.
-
-
The Voice ruins the book.
- De Bryce en 05-28-25
De: Richard Overy
-
Baltic
- The Future of Europe
- De: Oliver Moody
- Narrado por: Kaffe Keating
- Duración: 11 h y 3 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
The Baltic's time has come. It is not only critical to Europe's security and increasingly a centre of political and military power in its own right; it is a reservoir of ideas and experiences that could shape the continent's future. This books explores the history, their culture, their peculiarities and national dilemmas of all nine Baltic countries. At its core is a search for fresh answers to Europe's problems, at a point where the continent's previously dominant powers appear tired and divided.
-
-
Essential reading on the future of Europe
- De Frank en 06-08-25
De: Oliver Moody
-
King of Ashes
- A Novel
- De: S. A. Cosby
- Narrado por: Adam Lazarre-White
- Duración: 13 h y 19 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
When eldest son Roman Carruthers is summoned home after his father’s car accident, he finds his younger brother, Dante, in debt to dangerous criminals and his sister, Neveah, exhausted from holding the family—and the family business—together. Neveah and their father, who run the Carruthers Crematorium in the run-down central Virginia town of Jefferson Run, see death up close every day. But mortality draws even closer when it becomes clear that the crash that landed their father in a coma was no accident and Dante’s recklessness has placed them all in real danger.
De: S. A. Cosby