I'm fascinated by propaganda and its effect on people. I knew it was widely used during WWII, and I wanted to find a book about it. I specifically purchased a physical copy of this book. Some things you just need to be able to see, and on top of that, this book isn't available digitally.
This book covers the major powers: Germany, Italy, Great Britain, United States, the "New Order" (occupied areas), Soviet Union (as it was known at the time) and Japan. The author goes through who was in charge of the propaganda, their approach to it, and how effective it was. After that, there are examples of how each country used propaganda in posters, film, stamps and other media.
I thought this book was great. It really went in-depth to show what was going on in each country and how they dealt with feeding information to the public. Some countries were more straightforward than others. And I loved the description of America: "The American people, who have no objection to being prevailed upon to buy anything from toothpaste to a helicopter, balk at any attempt to influence them politically..." and "Before mid-1940, no government-sponored [sic] attempt to influence Americans about foreign affairs existed - for the very good reason that it would almost certainly have had the reverse of the effect intended." So true then and now, and I found it amusing.
Back to the book. It really was interesting, and I highly recommend it if you have any interest in how the various major countries used propaganda during the war. I saw a lot of similarities between the effects of the propaganda and the way social media can turn into an echo chamber with its algorithms. It's pretty easy to get your hands on an affordable used copy of this book, and it's pretty educational. Good Book!
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