Books As Weapons: Propaganda, Publishing, and the Battle for Global Markets in the Era of World War II...

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John B. Hench

Books As Weapons

Propaganda, Publishing, and the Battle for Global Markets in the Era of World War II

John B. Hench

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English

Cornell University Press
29 April 2010

General & world history; 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000; Second World War; Propaganda; Publishing industry

Only weeks after the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944, a surprising cargo-crates of books-joined the flood of troop reinforcements, weapons and ammunition, food, and medicine onto Normandy beaches. The books were destined for French bookshops, to be followed by millions more American books (in translation but also in English) ultimately distributed throughout Europe and the rest of the world. The British were doing similar work, which was uneasily coordinated with that of the Americans within the Psychological Warfare Division of General Eisenhower's Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, under General Eisenhower's command.

Books As Weapons tells the little-known story of the vital partnership between American book publishers and the U.S. government to put carefully selected recent books highlighting American history and values into the hands of civilians liberated from Axis forces. The government desired to use books to help ""disintoxicate"" the minds of these people from the Nazi and Japanese propaganda and censorship machines and to win their friendship. This objective dovetailed perfectly with U.S. publishers' ambitions to find new profits in international markets, which had been dominated by Britain, France, and Germany before their book trades were devastated by the war. Key figures on both the trade and government sides of the program considered books ""the most enduring propaganda of all"" and thus effective ""weapons in the war of ideas,"" both during the war and afterward, when the Soviet Union flexed its military might and demonstrated its propaganda savvy. Seldom have books been charged with greater responsibility or imbued with more significance.

John B. Hench leavens this fully international account of the programs with fascinating vignettes set in the war rooms of Washington and London, publishers' offices throughout the world, and the jeeps in which information officers drove over bomb-rutted roads to bring the books to people who were hungering for them. Books as Weapons provides context for continuing debates about the relationship between government and private enterprise and the image of the United States abroad.

By: John B. Hench
Imprint: Cornell University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: 1
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 155mm, Spine: 27mm
Weight: 907g
ISBN: 9780801448911
ISBN 10: 0801448913
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 29 April 2010
Recommended Age: From 18 years
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

"Preface Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations and Acronyms Introduction: Books on the Normandy Beaches Part I: Cultivating New Markets 1. Modernizing U.S. Book Publishing 2. War Changes Everything-Even Books Part II: Books as ""Weapons in the War of Ideas"" 3. Publishers Organize for War and Plan for Peace 4. ""Books Are the Most Enduring Propaganda of All"" 5. Seeking ""an Inside Track to the World's Bookshelves"" 6. ""Everyone but the Janitor"" Selected the Books 7. Books to Pacify and Reeducate the Enemy 8. Making the ""Nice Little Books"" Part III: U.S. Cultural Power Abroad 9. Liberating Europe with Books 10. The Rise and Fall of the United States International Book Association 11. The Empire Strikes Back 12. Books for Occupied Germany and Japan Epilogue: American Books Abroad after 1948 Appendix A. Overseas and Transatlantic Editions Appendix B. Titles in the Bucherreihe Neue Welt Series Notes Bibliography Index"

John B. Hench has retired from the post of Vice President for Collections and Programs at the American Antiquarian Society. He is coeditor of The Press and the American Revolution and Printing and Society in Early America.

Reviews for Books As Weapons: Propaganda, Publishing, and the Battle for Global Markets in the Era of World War II

In Books As Weapons, John B. Hench tells of the U.S. effort during World War II to deploy books against an enemy known for burning them. Hench explores the public-private collaboration between officials and publishers who sought to 'disintoxicate' occupied Europe by replacing Axis ideology with American values while at the same time paving the way for postwar markets overseas. It contributes to our understanding of the political, diplomatic, legal, and logistical challenges involved when using 'soft power' for purposes of pacification and reeducation. To counter the Nazi portrayal of Americans as crude and cocky gangsters determined to rule the world, these 'books as weapons' aimed to free minds, win friends, and show the United States in 'the best possible light' even if it did intend to rule the world. Susan A. Brewer, University of Wisconsin Stevens Point