The story of propaganda and patriotism in First World War Britain too often focuses on the clichés of Kitchener, ‘over by Christmas’ and the deaths of patriotic young volunteers at the Somme and elsewhere. A common assumption is that familiar forms of patriotism did not survive the war. However, the activities of the National War Aims Committee in 1917-18 suggest that propaganda and patriotism remained vigorous in Britain in the last years of the war. The NWAC, a semi-official Parliamentary organisation responsible for propaganda to counteract civilian war-weariness, produced masses of propaganda material aimed at re-stimulating civilian patriotism and yet remains largely unknown and rarely discussed. This book provides the first detailed study of the NWAC’s activities, propaganda and reception. It demonstrates the significant role played by the NWAC in British society after July 1917, illuminating the local network of agents and committees which conducted its operations and the party political motivations behind these. At the core of the book is a comprehensive analysis of the Committee’s propaganda. NWAC propaganda contained an underlying patriotic narrative which re-presented many familiar pre-war patriotic themes in ways that sought to encompass the experiences of civilians worn down by years of total war. By interpreting propaganda through the purposes it served, rather than the quantity of discussion of particular aspects, the book rejects common and reductive interpretations which depict propaganda as being mainly about the vilification of enemies. Through this analysis, the book makes a wider plea for deeper attention to the purposes behind patriotic language.
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This book is the first comprehensive investigation of the National War Aims Committee, providing detailed discussion of the establishment, activities and reception of the British domestic propaganda organisation, together with a careful and extensive analysis of the patriotic content of its propaganda.
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List of figures and tablesList of abbreviationsAcknowledgementsIntroductionPart 1: The National War Aims Committee1: The development of wartime propaganda and the emergence of the NWAC2: The NWAC at work3: Local agency, local work: the role of constituency War Aims CommitteesPart 2: Patriotism for a purpose: NWAC propaganda4: Presentational patriotisms5: Adversaries at home and abroad: the context of negative difference6: Civilisational principles: Britain and its allies as the guardians of civilisation7: Patriotisms of duty: sacrifice, obligation and community – the narrative core of NWAC propaganda8: Promises for the future: the encouragement of aspirations for a better life, nation and worldPart 3: The impact of the NWAC9: ‘A premium on corruption’? Parliamentary, pressure group and national press responses10: Individual and local reactions to the NWACConclusionAppendicesBibliographyIndex
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Reviews'Impressively detailed, this book is a major, original and illuminating contribution to the scholarship of propaganda.'
Adrian Gregory
New paperback edition
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781846318306
Publisert
2012-08-21
Utgiver
Vendor
Liverpool University Press
Høyde
239 mm
Bredde
163 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
310
Forfatter