"mailing project"

Hot Books in the Cold War

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

By Alfred A. Reisch

Central European University Press, Hardcover, 9786155225239, 549pp.

Publication Date: July 5, 2013

List Price: $70.00*

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.