Information at War

The short-lived Ministry of Information (MoI, 1939DS1946) had an outsized impact. It played a key role in the allied war effort, and its work has reverberated in British culture ever since, from its much darker version (as the 'Ministry of Truth') in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four to memes based on the slogan 'Keep Calm and Carry On'. But despite its long legacy, it has been the subject of limited scholarly investigation. This multi-authored volume corrects this by offering the first comprehensive and global history of the MoI, which introduced something new to British society: the idea of a formal state mechanism to issue and control information. In consequence it was an inherently ambivalent institution: its negative side (the threat of an un-British level of state control) could be offset by the MoI's perceived ability to generate a sense of national purpose at a time of crisis. The remit of the MoI extended far beyond war-time propaganda and the home front, and the book demonstrates the remarkable breadth and depth of its activities: it attempted to justify Britain's empire in varied ways; it was active across a range of media, from pamphlets and posters to public meetings, films and exhibitions; and it was truly transcontintental, with a consolidated presence in many countries in Africa, Asia Australasia, the Americas, and Europe. The book sheds light on an important but little-understood chapter of British wartime history, and the final days of the British Empire. The lively and highly illustrated chapters raise important and timely questions about the nature of state surveillance, information, and propaganda in an increasingly global world.