LEADER 05246nam 2200829 450 001 9910811572903321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a9786155225352 010 $a615-5225-35-4 024 7 $a2027/heb32283 035 $a(CKB)3170000000060945 035 $a(EBL)3137352 035 $a(SSID)ssj0001036502 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11593047 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0001036502 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)11042149 035 $a(PQKB)11643352 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3137352 035 $a(OCoLC)848918403 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse24923 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3137352 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10776445 035 $a(OCoLC)922997921 035 $a(DE-B1597)633429 035 $a(DE-B1597)9786155225352 035 $a(dli)HEB32283 035 $a(MiU)MIU01200000000000000000027 035 $a(OCoLC)1338019495 035 $a(EXLCZ)993170000000060945 100 $a20121207d2013 uy| 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcnu|||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aHot books in the Cold War $ethe CIA-funded secret book distribution program behind the Iron Curtain /$fAlfred A. Reisch 210 1$aBudapest :$cCentral European University Press,$d2013. 215 $a1 online resource (596 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a615-5225-23-0 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 527-535) and indexes. 327 $aOrigins, objectives, and launching of the book project under Sam Walker -- Titles, contents, numbers, targets, and aims of the mailings -- The man in the grey suit : George C. Minden and his concept of cultural and ideological competition -- The New York Book Center : books, books, and more books -- The book project reaches new heights : the golden age of the 1960s -- Western and e?migre? books and periodicals published with covert support -- New opportunities through East-West contacts -- The early 1970s : the international advisory council -- A lasting enemy -- The communist regimes on the defensive : criticisms, warnings, and attacks -- The person-to-person distribution program : a direct way to reach East Europeans, the early Polish program 1958-1959 -- Another vehicle for reaching the people of eastern Europe : the person-to-person distribution program and personalized mailings -- The most important book distribution point : Vienna -- Letters from Poland, the crucial country -- Letters from Czechoslovakia before and after 1968 -- Letters from Hungary under goulash communism -- Letters from Romania under the Ceausescu regime -- Letters from Bulgaria despite very strict censorship -- The last seventeen years : International Literary Centre, Ltd., East Europe, and the USSR. 330 $aThis 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. 606 $aBooks and reading$zEurope, Eastern$xHistory$y20th century 606 $aBooks and reading$zCommunist countries$xHistory$y20th century 606 $aBook distribution programs 606 $aPublishers and publishing$xPolitical aspects 606 $aCensorship$zEurope, Eastern$xHistory$y20th century 606 $aCensorship$zCommunist countries$xHistory$y20th century 606 $aPropaganda, Anti-communist 606 $aPropaganda, International 606 $aCold War 607 $aEuropean 6 $zRussia & Eastern 610 $aBooks and reading, Censorship, Cold War, Communism, Eastern Europe, Europe, History, United States. 615 0$aBooks and reading$xHistory 615 0$aBooks and reading$xHistory 615 0$aBook distribution programs. 615 0$aPublishers and publishing$xPolitical aspects. 615 0$aCensorship$xHistory 615 0$aCensorship$xHistory 615 0$aPropaganda, Anti-communist. 615 0$aPropaganda, International. 615 0$aCold War. 676 $a028.70947/0904 700 $aReisch$b Alfred A$g(Alfred Alexander),$f1931-$01632527 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910811572903321 996 $aHot books in the Cold War$93971726 997 $aUNINA