Closing out What the Hell’s summer book series, we offer a timely reminder of the value of free speech and critical thinking from a time when it wasn’t taken for granted. Charlie English discusses his book, The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature (Random House, 2025). Charlie chronicles George Minden’s 1980s covert intelligence operation that smuggled literature into Poland from beyond the Iron Curtain. From its Manhattan headquarters, Minden’s “book club” secretly sent ten million banned titles into the East and combated communist censorship, creating a vibrant culture in Poland that would outlast the toppled Soviet regime. What is the value of printed word in our society? Can ideas beat out on the battlefield? Charlie reminds us they can.

Charlie English is a London-based non-fiction writer and the author of three internationally acclaimed books. He has appeared on NPR, the BBC and Channel 4, written for numerous newspapers and magazines including the New York Times, the Guardian, the Telegraph and the Independent, and given talks at Hay, Jaipur and the Royal Geographical Society, where he is a fellow. Formerly, he was Head of International News at Guardian News and Media.

Find The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature here.

Find the transcript here.