English Podcast starts at 00:00:00

Bengali Podcast Starts at 00:35:11

Hindi Podcast Starts at 01:03:49

Polish Podcast Starts at 01:28:23

Reference

English, C. (2025). The CIA Book Club: The Best-Kept Secret of the Cold War. HarperCollins UK. https://www.harperreach.com/products/the-cia-book-club-the-best-kept-secret-of-the-cold-war-charlie-english-9780008495121/‌

Author Webpage: https://www.charlieenglish.net/bio

Youtube channel link

https://www.youtube.com/@weekendresearcher

Connect on linkedin

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayukhpsm/

🎙️ Hey book lovers and cold war curio-hunters! Welcome to "Revise and Resubmit," your one-stop shop for stories that sweep you off your feet. Today’s episode, "Weekend Book Review," is diving into the electrifying shadows of espionage and underground literature... so get ready for some true spy-versus-censor action. 📚🕵️‍♀️

If you think spies only traded secrets, think again. In "The CIA Book Club: The Best-Kept Secret of the Cold War," Charlie English brings us a real-life tale where books became battle plans and printing presses ticked like quiet bombs of rebellion. This wasn’t just fiction—this was the front line. Imagine banned books like "1984" and "Animal Farm" spirited past watchtowers, floated across borders, concealed in luggage, and multiplied in secret print shops. Each book lighting a spark, a hidden rebellion, a clandestine reader’s hope.

Let’s talk about the mastermind—Charlie English is London’s own wizard of narrative nonfiction. He’s led global news desks, illuminated lost libraries from Timbuktu to Europe, and written for everyone from The Guardian to the New York Times. Off the page, he’s even herding sheep in the English countryside with his border collie, Enzo, and still finds time to rescue literary history. You’d think wrestling sheep would be easier than wrangling Cold War secrets!

As we tumble into this story of rebels and readers, you’ll meet Polish heroes like Miroslaw Chojecki, smuggling stories under martial law, and see how men and women with the courage to pass forbidden words helped tear down the iron walls of censorship. In the end, it wasn’t tanks that toppled regimes—it was the written word. That’s the power of a paperback in a world of propaganda.

Huge thanks to Charlie English and William Collins—Harper Collins imprint—for giving us this wild, true story of how literature quite literally set people free.

If you love a good yarn and the thrill of hidden history, make sure you hit subscribe. Tap that follow on Spotify, ring that bell on our YouTube channel "Weekend Researcher," and don’t forget—we’re also streaming on Amazon Prime Music and Apple Podcast. With so many ways to tune in, there’s no Iron Curtain between you and our next adventure.

Now tell me—when was the last time a book changed your mind, or maybe even your life?