The newly born League of Nations confronted the post-WWI world—from growing stateless populations to the resurgence of right-wing movements—by aiming to create a transnational, cosmopolitan dialogue on justice. As part of these efforts, a veritable army of League personnel set out to shape “global public opinion,” in favor of the postwar liberal international order. Combining the tools of global intellectual history and cultural history, A Violent Peace reopens the archives of the League to reveal surprising links between the political use of modern information systems and the rise of mass violence in the interwar world. Historian Carolyn N. Biltoft shows how conflicts over truth and power that played out at the League of Nations offer broad insights into the nature of totalitarian regimes and their use of media flows to demonize a whole range of “others.”
An exploration of instability in information systems, the allure of fascism, and the contradictions at the heart of a global modernity, A Violent Peace paints a rich portrait of the emergence of the age of information—and all its attendant problems.
By:
Carolyn N. Biltoft
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 15mm
ISBN: 9780226766423
ISBN 10: 022676642X
Pages: 216
Publication Date: 03 May 2021
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface: Truth, Lies, and Violence, Then and Now 1. As Seen at the League of Nations: Global Media, Competing Truths, and the Allure of Fascism 2. Rebranding the World (Picture) 3. On True and False Tongues 4. Fabricating Currencies: Paper, Gold, and Other Facsimiles 5. Fiat Lux? False News and Hidden Flesh 6. The Word and the Sword Revisited Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
Carolyn N. Biltoft is associate professor of international history at the Graduate Institute Geneva.
Reviews for A Violent Peace: Media, Truth, and Power at the League of Nations
With bold originality and a keen eye for the telling detail, Biltoft recasts the history of the League of Nations, dedicated to elevating the word over the sword, as a quest for symbolic capital in the chaotic interwar world. Focusing on questions of language, money, and the control of information flows, she shows how the challenges faced by the League continue to bedevil us today. * Martin Jay, University of California, Berkeley * Fascinating and utterly original, A Violent Peace is an impressive study of superior scholarship. Biltoft offers a fresh perspective on this topic by shifting the lens from an investigation into the geopolitical coordinates of the League of Nations to the more ephemeral but equally important role of media and communication strategies that underlay the project. Accessible to both specialists and generalists, this exciting book will find a wide cross-section of readers in history, critical theory, government, and beyond. * Ethan Kleinberg, Wesleyan University *
