The CIA Book Club by Charlie English

THE CIA BOOK CLUB by Charlie English was a LibraryReads selection for July and received a starred review from Booklist. Its subtitle is “The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature,” but a fellow book group member and I agreed that it focuses more (sometimes graphically) on the resistance in Poland. This sentiment was echoed in The Wall Street Journal review which, while praising the book, noted: “The title of Mr. English’s book is somewhat misleading” due to its sole focus on Poland and on its book smugglers, noting that the CIA’s main role was financial support and smuggling equipment. The tales of dissidents and courage seem especially poignant as the world awaits the outcome of meetings on the war in Ukraine. Interesting, too, to note the books which were smuggled and circulated (Camus, Orwell, Vonnegut) in light of recent commentary like David Brooks’ opinion piece “When Novels Mattered.” Ironically, reading the entire text of THE CIA BOOK CLUB would likely be too much for most book group participants, but an excerpt could prompt discussion on international policy and funding cuts, on the role of truth in light of social media, and on domestic book banning efforts. “Literature, together with language, protects the soul of the nation.” ~Solzhenitsyn

An additional reviews is available from The Washington Post (“This true story of CIA book smuggling reads like an Ian Fleming novel”) and a portion of THE CIA BOOK CLUB was published recently in The New York Times (“‘1984’ Hasn’t Changed, but America Has”).