Hot Books in the Cold War : The CIA-Funded Secret Western Book Distribution Program Behind the Iron Curtain

Alfred A. Reisch

Published by Central European University Press 2013

Hot Books in the Cold War

The CIA-Funded Secret Western Book Distribution Program Behind the Iron Curtain

Alfred A. Reisch

https://doi.org/10.1515/9786155225352

Overview
Contents

About this book

This study reveals the hidden story of the secret book distribution program to Eastern Europe financed by the CIA during the Cold War. At its height between 1957 and 1970, the book program was one of the least known but most effective methods of penetrating the Iron Curtain, reaching thousands of intellectuals and professionals in the Soviet Bloc. Reisch conducted thorough research on the key personalities involved in the book program, especially the two key figures: S. S. Walker, who initiated the idea of a “mailing project,” and G. C. Minden, who developed it into one of the most effective political and psychological tools of the Cold War. The book includes excellent chapters on the vagaries of censorship and interception of books by communist authorities based on personal letters and accounts from recipients of Western material. It will stand as a testimony in honor of the handful of imaginative, determined, and hard-working individuals who helped to free half of Europe from mental bondage and planted many of the seeds that germinated when communism collapsed and the Soviet bloc disintegrated.

Author / Editor information

Reisch Alfred A. :

Alfred A. Reisch was a political scientist, specialized in international relations, diplomatic and Cold War history, foreign, military, national security, and minority affairs. He taught at Manhattan College in New York; at the Georgetown University in Washington; US Intelligence College in Washington, D.C. He was Head of the Hungarian Research and Evaluation Section of Radio Free Europe in Munich. He was a regular guest lecturer at the NATO School in Oberammergau, Germany.

Reviews

Janusz Bugajski:
"The secret book distribution program to Eastern Europe funded by the CIA during the Cold War gave hope and courage to thousands of intellectuals and other dissidents. It helped to cultivate the seeds of opposition and contributed to the eventual triumph of reason over dogmatism. Alfred Reisch’s book fills in an important gap in our understanding of how the United States effectively used the “soft power” of information not only to promote democracy but to contribute to the collapse of European communism. The word indeed proved mightier than the sword."

A. Ross Johnson:
"A well-documented pioneering analysis of the “book program” that complemented Western broadcasts and provided Western literature to East Europeans and Russians during the Cold War. Highly recommended for anyone interested in U.S. Cold War foreign policy."

Istvan Deak:
"That over ten million books and periodicals were successfully mailed to East European countries as an important part of the West’s psychological warfare against Communist ideology is a Cold War operation very little known. Thousands upon thousands of educated East Europeans, among them members of my family and friends, had their views fundamentally changed by the arrival of forward-looking literary, cultural, and scientific products. The Secret Book Distribution Program powerfully contributed to the peaceful transformation of Eastern Europe in and after 1989."

"Hot Books in the Cold War is an absorbing tale of cloak and dagger derring-do by people who loved books and wanted other people to have access to them. The late Alfred A. Reisch (he died in 2013) tells this story both as a historian and as a one-time participant in the CIA-financed book distribution program in Eastern Europe and the USSR. It really should be made into a movie—there are heroes galore and seldom has a book communicated the risks average people will take on behalf of the right to read and to maintain a life of the mind in the face of a totalitarian state. Reisch makes you feel you are in the room with a nervous dissident receiving a package containing that most dangerous of objects in his society—a book from abroad. One of the most valuable features of Hot Books in the Cold War is the overview of the program provided by Mark Kramer in his introduction to the book. Kramer’s account of the mechanics of the program fascinates. The level of detail in this book about this era is impressive and eye-opening for those of us with little knowledge of the cultural front of the Cold War. Books given to teachers were used in classroom instruction and reading circles facilitated person-to-person transfers. In the age of the e-book it is easy to forget that the book as tangible object symbolized to recipients in the book distribution program such sentiments as, 'I trust you—read this' or simply 'It is not like this everywhere.' Historians of the book should add this book to their reading lists and all academic libraries should contain a copy."

"Alfred Reisch's meticulously researched book about the CIA's secretly funded book distribution program provides the first detailed account of the extraordinary “political warfare” effort conducted by the CIA to counter the Soviet global political and cultural offensive, as Mark Kramer points out in his superb introduction in the book... The reader will also be impressed with the intricacies of the secretive network operating out of New York (the names of the New York-based and the overseas front cover “sponsoring” organizations were often changed as the situation required) and with centers in London, Paris, Rome, Munich and Vienna. These major western cities had dozens of emigre groups who were willing to cooperate with the CIA front organizations. Because of its geographic proximity to Communist-ruled Eastern Europe, Vienna was the most important book distribution hub, while Rome became a “hot” center after the arrival on the scene of the Polish Pope John Paul II. The Polish regime started allowing many thousands of Polish religious pilgrims to flock to Rome... 'Hot Books in the Cold War' is a must read for all those diplomats who served in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, since I am certain, that they too were affected and assisted in carrying out their political, press and cultural work without ever hearing about the existence of the extraordinary CIA-run book program."

"Alfred A. Reischi teos avardab vaieldamatult arusaama külmast sõjast. Eriti tuleb esile tõsta, et avarat ja huvitavat, aga varem peaaegu tähelepanuta jäänud teemat on autor käsitlenud rohkem kui kaks aastakümmet pärast selle lõppu."

"Reisch’s pioneering study demonstrates that the 'book program' was an important part of the American Cold War effort to counter Soviet influence, help East Europeans remain in touch with the West, and keep alive hope of freedom. Although the program was funded covertly from the U.S. intelligence budget through the FEC until 1971, strategic direction came not from Washington but from FEC officials Walker and Minden. They organized and managed a decentralized international consortium of publishers, individuals, and Western governments who saw the value of a 'Marshall Plan for the mind,' were eager to participate on the condition that the program be conducted in the shadows, and never publicized their activities. Nor was the program penetrated by Soviet bloc intelligence services. Now, over 20 years after its end, Alfred Reisch has superbly analyzed and documented the 'book program' that was one of the most successful and cost-effective instruments of American foreign policy during the Cold War."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Table of Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Mark Kramer Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgements Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Foreword Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
Chapter 1 Origins, Objectives, and Launching of the Book Project Under Sam Walker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	7
Chapter 2 Titles, Contents, Numbers, Targets, and Aims of the Mailings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
Chapter 3 The Man in the Grey Suit. George C. Minden and his Concept of Cultural and Ideological Competition Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
Chapter 4 The New York Book Center. Books, Books, and More Books Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
Chapter 5 The Book Project Reaches New Heights. The Golden Age of the 1960s Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
Chapter 6 Western and Émigré Books and Periodicals Published with Covert Support Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
Chapter 7 New Opportunities Through East-West Contacts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
Chapter 8 The Early 1970s. The International Advisory Council Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Chapter 9 A Lasting Enemy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
Chapter 10 The Communist Regimes on the Defensive: Criticisms, Warnings, and Attacks Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
Chapter 11 The Person-to-Person Distribution Program: A Direct Way to Reach East Europeans. The Early Polish Program 1958–1959 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
Chapter 12 Another Vehicle for Reaching the People of Eastern Europe: the Personto- Person Distribution Program and Personalized Mailings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255
Chapter 13 The Most Important Book Distribution Point: Vienna Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	295
Chapter 14 Letters from Poland, the Crucial Country Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	309
Chapter 15 Letters from Czechoslovakia Before and After 1968 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	347
Chapter 16 Letters from Hungary Under Goulash Communism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	399
Chapter 17 Letters from Romania Under the Ceauşescu Regime Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	439
Chapter 18 Letters from Bulgaria Despite Very Strict Censorship Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	481
Chapter 19 The Last Seventeen Years: International Literary Centre, Ltd., East Europe, and the USSR Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	505
Conclusion The Impact of the Book Distribution Project and its Contribution to the Ideological Victory of the West Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	521
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	527
Subject Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	537
Index of Names Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	544

Language: English
Publisher: Central European University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 596
Keywords: Books and reading; Censorship; Cold War; Communism; Eastern Europe; Europe; History; United States

eBook

Published: March 30, 2013
ISBN: 9786155225352