Books were smuggled on planes, on trains and in baby’s nappies. The CIA’s literary propaganda scheme sent 10m tomes to the eastern bloc, including the works of Agatha Christie, Albert Camus and John le Carré. It was “the best-kept secret of the cold war”, writes Charlie English, an author, in “The CIA Book Club”, a new book. 

Governments have influenced a surprising amount of literature. The authors whose books were used to counter Soviet censorship had no idea about the CIA’s plot. Other writers have offered their pens to the state. Rudyard Kipling had a stint as a propagandist for the British empire; John Steinbeck wrote a story to inspire people in occupied Europe to rise up against the Nazis. I read six books that are works of propaganda in one way or another, and encourage you to do the same. They are surprisingly good.