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Balfour, Michael
Propaganda in War 1939-1945, Organisations, Policies
and Publics in Britain and Germany London: Routledge
and Kegan Paul, 1979
Balfour worked for the Ministry
of Information during the Second World War, from March
1939 to March 1942, he was Temporary Principal in
General Division of MOI, which gave him a good view
of the Home Front. From April 1942 until the end of
the war he was Assistant Director of Intelligence
in Political Warfare Executive/ Psychological Warfare
Division of SHAEF, which gave him a good view of enemy
front.
This was the first book to deal
with both Britain and Germany, including what each
government said to its own, and to each others public.
He believed that only by doing this could we understand
the whole picture, as each aspect sheds light on the
others.
The scope of the book
was confined to Britain and Germany unless outside
events particularly impinged, concentrated upon the
civilian front. It was not intended to be comprehensive,
but picked important and interesting aspects. Balfour
did not refer back to many documents but worked from
'acknowledged authorities', using footnotes to give
pointers to other sources of interest.
The balance of the
book was inevitably affected as he was better informed
about Germany than Britain, due to the fact that there
were more sources available. However, he felt that
the purpose of the book was not only to describe events
1918-1945, but to shed some light as to nature of
propaganda. Balfour tried to answer the following
questions in the book:
- What is the purpose of propaganda?
- Does propaganda essentially involve
misrepresentation?
- If not, what is the difference
between it and persuasion?
- Is one automatically a propagandist
if one makes predictions that do not come true?
- Can 'news' be kept completely
separate from 'views'?
- How does a publicist know whether
he is reporting the truth (particularly in wartime)?
- Is the use of the mass
media essential to propaganda?
Try and find on Amazon,
although the title is out of print.
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