Barriers Down

In the 1940s and 1950s, the free flow of information became an American watchword. But this flow was neither free nor flowing nor even necessarily informational. Historian Diana Lemberg presents a critical biography of the famous phrase, whose leading advocates assumed information would move from the United States to the rest of the world and not the other way around. Barriers Down recovers long forgotten debates that are more relevant than ever. -- Michael Schudson, author of <i>The Rise of the Right to Know: Politics and the Culture of Transparency, 1945-1975</i> Lemberg offers us an innovative discussion of how the United States actively sought to remove obstacles to global media after 1945. Barriers Down ties the deeply political question of media openness to key issues during the postwar period: international development, the Cold War, national sovereignty, decolonization, and the collapse of empire. It provides a valuable and fresh perspective on central topics in international affairs. -- David Ekbladh, author of <i>The Great American Mission: Modernization and the Construction of an American World Order</i> Historians of U.S. global power have been curiously disinterested in the history of the media. In this wide-ranging and thought-provoking book, Diana Lemberg steps into the breach, reminding us just how many intellectuals, politicians, and diplomats spent the Cold War arguing about the future of global communications. -- Sam Lebovic, author of <i>Free Speech and Unfree News: The Paradox of Press Freedom in America</i> Barriers Down refutes the cliche that information wants to be free. Instead, Lemberg details how the notion of barrier-free flow of information was contested in the late twentieth century and how a group of predominantly American diplomats, business leaders, and scholars secured its freedom. It is both timely and historically wise. -- David Engerman, author of <i>The Price of Aid: The Economic Cold War in India</i>