Focuses on four books that informed the Cold War: "Darkness at Noon" (1940) by Arthur Koestler, a Hungarian journalist and intellectual; "Out of the Night" (1941) by Jan Valtin, a German sailor and labour agitator; "I Chose Freedom" (1946) by Victor Kravchenko, a Soviet engineer; and, "Witness" (1952) by Whittaker Chambers, an American journalist.