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History Great Britain

Beware the British Serpent

The Role of Writers in British Propaganda in the United States, 1939-1945

by (author) Robert L. Calder

Publisher
McGill-Queen's University Press
Initial publish date
Mar 2004
Category
Great Britain, World War II
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780773526884
    Publish Date
    Mar 2004
    List Price
    $100.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780773571792
    Publish Date
    Mar 2004
    List Price
    $110.00

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Description

Using newly uncovered archival material, Calder offers provocative new insights into the war work of more than forty prominent British authors, focusing particularly on Somerset Maugham, Noel Coward, H.G. Wells, Vera Brittain, and J.B. Priestley. He provides a comprehensive analysis of the suspicions beneath the wartime Anglo-American alliance and describes the tensions that arose between the British Ministry of Information and the Foreign Office over the nature and direction of the propaganda campaign in the United States.Calder demonstrates that Britain's well-organized propaganda campaign in the United States to persuade it to enter World War I had left isolationist and Anglophobic Americans highly suspicious of anything that hinted of propaganda. Any effort to influence public opinion had therefore to be carefully and subtly undertaken, and the British Government soon realised that well-known authors - employed officially or semi-officially - were ideal for the task. Respected for their pens, they were especially suited to reminding Americans of their strongest links with Britain - a common language and a shared cultural heritage of Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, Hardy, Thackeray, and others. As well, their profession had often led them to tour, speak, write, and live in America, and, because they could live on their royalties and speaking fees, they were not on the payroll of the British government and thus could not be identified as paid foreign agents.

About the author

University of Saskatchewan

Robert L. Calder's profile page