Episode 120: Part 2 of 2. Throughout the Cold War, the CIA maintained a vast web of secret publications that it used to influence public thought and perceptions of the United States. Meanwhile back home, it funded successful attempts to remove politics and philosophy from American creative writing. Find out how the CIA manipulated writing and literature to its own anticommunist aims in this episode.
Twitter: Link
Patreon: Link
Shirts and more: Link
Sources and Further Reading
How Iowa Flattened Literature: Link
How the CIA Helped Shape the Creative Writing Scene in America: Linkl
Saunders, Frances Stonor. The cultural cold war: The CIA and the world of arts and letters. New Press, The, 2013.
The CIA and the Cultural Cold War Revisited: Link
Pablo Neruda: the hidden story behind winning the Nobel: Link
The Paris Review: Boris Pasternak, The Art of Fiction No. 25: Link
Whitney, Joel. Finks: How the CIA Tricked the World's Best Writers. OR Books, 2017.
‘Workshops of Empire,’ by Eric Bennett: Link
Bennett, Eric. Workshops of Empire: Stegner, Engle, and American Creative Writing during the Cold War. University of Iowa Press, 2015.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com