Mention of the C.I.A. in the 21st century brings cyberwarfare and espionage to mind, but in the ‘50s and ‘60s during the Cold War it engaged in a different type of international subterfuge: secretly funding a suite of literary and current affairs magazines throughout the world, in Europe, Asia and South America. It was an effort to win a culture war against the Soviet Union and communism by promoting essays and literature that reflected the…