"I like the implicit arrogance of this action, as if Eastern Europeans were unable to draw their own conclusions and had to be enlightened about their own countries by books written by foreigners. "Heck, I never knew I lived in a police state. Thank God this book by Orwell made it into the country to open my eyes!" Given the chronic toilet paper shortages, I think I can guess what happened to most of these books. :)"
I know. I was thinking the same thing. One thing it did do though is to educate the intelligencia, who was much courted by both sides, as to what to say on their grant-endowed trips to the west.
Joanna