Artifact of the Week: Miniature Edition of Pasternak's "Doctor Zhivago"

This copy of the original edition of "Doctor Zhivago" in Russian was secretly published by the CIA. The cover and binding of the book are marked in Russian, while the back states that it was printed in France. The CIA published the book in Russian after it was banned in the Soviet Union as "a malicious slander against the USSR."

The renowned Russian writer Boris Pasternak received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1958 for his "lyrical poetry and epic" prose, especially for his masterpiece "Doctor Zhivago," a novel about love set against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution.

In 2008, Russian writer Ivan Tolstoy claimed in his book that the CIA secretly published the novel as part of the U.S. campaign to support authors who told the truth about the harsh life in the Soviet Union at that time. The CIA officially declined to comment on Tolstoy's findings.

In 2014, the CIA declassified information about its activities related to "Doctor Zhivago," confirming that the book was secretly published by the CIA.