Books As Weapons

B. Hench John

Description

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.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Modern warfare
• World War II
• Propaganda

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501727276
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

BOOKS AS WEAPONS

BOOKSAS WEAPONS

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

John B. Hench

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON

Copyright © 2010 by John B. Hench

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2010 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2016

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Hench, John B.  Books as weapons : propaganda, publishing, and the battle for global markets in the era of World War II / John B. Hench.  p. cm.  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 9780801448911 (cloth : alk. paper)  ISBN 9781501705656 (pbk. : alk. paper)  1. World War, 1939–1945—Propaganda. 2. Propaganda, American—Europe— History—20th century. 3. Propaganda, American—Japan—History—20th century. 4. Publishers and publishing—United States—History—20th century. 5. Book industries and trade—United States—History—20th century. I. Title.  D810.P7E854 2010  940.54'88673—dc22 2009048122

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materi als include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further informa tion, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

For Lea

Books cannot be killed by fire. People die, but books never die. No man and no force can put thought in a concentration camp forever. No man and no force can take from the world the books that embody man’s eternal fight against tyranny. In this war, we know, books are weapons. —President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Books do not have their impact upon the mass mind but upon the minds of those who mould the mass mind—upon leaders of thought and formulators of public opinion. The impact of a book may last six months or several decades. Books are the most enduring propaganda of all. —Office of War Information official

The opportunity exists as it never may again for American books to have an inside track to the world’s bookshelves. —Office of War Information official

Contents

Par t I

Preface Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations and Acronyms

Introduction: Books on the Normandy Beaches

CULTIVATING NEW MARKETS  1.  Modernizing U.S. Book Publishing  2.  War Changes Everything—Even Books

Par t 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”

Par t 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 Bücherreihe Neue Welt Series Notes Bibliography Index

xi xv xvii

1

11

19

43

68

82

94

109

131

151

178

198

225

257

269 275 277 313 321