Simon Eliot and Marc Wiggam’s edited volume is a valuable contribution to the literature on propaganda and persuasion during the Second World War. The book stems from a conference that was part of the “Communication Story of the Ministry of Information 1939-46” project funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. Bringing together contributors from a variety of different institutions, it delivers new insights into how the Allied communications machine worked during hostilities.

The contributions range from looking at how Britain’s Ministry of Information (MoI) attempted to influence its own citizens (Henry Irving) to how other organisations, such as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), worked to influence German people through broadcasts to the enemy population (Stephanie Seul and Emily Oliver), as well as a range of other examples in different theatres of war.

Irving starts with an exploration of how the MoI’s effectiveness was influenced by where it was situated within the machinery of the British Government. He cites the example of the arrival of Hitler’s deputy, Rudolf Hess, in Britain in May 1941, as a missed propaganda opportunity for the MoI. The MoI was not informed of Hess’s arrival until the moment had passed; and the incident led to a review of how the MoI operated within the Government. This enabled Brendan Bracken (Minister of Information from July 1941) to “sharpen the ministry’s operations.” (p. 29). The MoI became a more formidable force under Bracken's leadership.

Perhaps most interesting are the contributions which consider lesser-known attempts at influence during this period – such as the work of the National Savings Committee (NSC) examined by Victoria Carolan. Carolan points out that despite its high expenditure and volume of material produced by the committee it has “barely warranted a footnote” in the history of the home front (p. 39). Carolan draws upon archives in Yorkshire and Lancashire to understand the local elements of the NSC’s campaigns, which had themed weeks and appealed to people to invest in the war effort out of a sense of duty, with significant rivalry between towns. The NSC remained independent of the MoI throughout the war.

Stephen Thompson explores the work of another lesser-known organisation, the Army Bureau of Current Affairs (ABCA), which sought to explain to soldiers what they were fighting for. Given that for a large proportion of the war many soldiers did not see action until D-Day, morale needed to be maintained. ABCA had a key role in this maintenance.

Both Thompson and Alice Byrne consider the role of official bulletins – in Thompson’s case the role of “War” and “Current Affairs” as part of the ABCA’s work in educating soldiers; and for Byrne, the role of “Britain To-day”, “Bulletins from Britain”, and “Britain”, which were deployed by the British Council and British Information Services (BIS) in the United States of America. These two chapters helpfully explore how important the style and content of such publications were in reaching their intended audiences, but also the departmental rivalry that existed supporting different publications, with varying degrees of success.

The volume explores the role of propaganda in lesser-known theatres of war. This includes Stefanie Wichart’s chapter on the work of Freya Stark in developing the Brotherhood of Freedom network in the Arab world; and Chandrika Kaul’s chapter on the BBC’s broadcasts to India. Wichart’s chapter leaves one feeling that Stark should be a much more celebrated figure of this period, given her work to bring together thousands of rumour-spreading volunteers. Wichart notes that “the slogan ‘freedom’ was […] used by the Axis to foment anti-British sentiment, the Brotherhood reclaimed the word for the Allies” (p. 190). Kaul explores the way that the BBC gave airtime to Indian Nationalists much to the upset of the Raj and how this affected the situation in post-war India.

There are also two valuable contributions examining some thorny issues of race and religion that the Allies navigated in different ways. Joseph Clark considers the portrayal of African Americans in the US Armed Forces through the films “The Negro Soldier” and “Teamwork”. The first has been recognised by historians, but the latter is less well known. Clark explains “Teamwork” ignored the fact that there was segregation in the US forces, and so the scenes it displayed of black and white soldiers working together were not accurate. Although “Teamwork” was approved for distribution to all overseas theatres, it only became available after the end of the war. The circumstances for which it was made had changed and as it depicted a future for which the American public was not ready, it was consequently less impactful. James Wald explores the incidents of three waves of Polish Jews deserting the Polish forces based in Britain who demanded to join the British Armed Forces. There were tensions between those who believed that news of the desertions should be suppressed to maintain Allied unity, and the need to tackle the real problem – anti-Semitism. The British press was prepared to highlight the discrimination - much to the Polish authorities’ surprise.

Journalistic freedom to report political issues is the focus on Richard Fine’s chapter. Fine covers the attempts by General Eisenhower to stop journalists reporting two cases: how far the former Vichy French were involved in the new Allied-backed administration in North Africa, which left both journalists and Allied authorities more wary of each other; and the final surrender of the Germans, which was „leaked“ by Edward Kennedy.

Christopher Bannister explores the role of British propaganda in Spain and Portugal. This is an interesting and valuable contribution with Bannister correctly identifying the key difficulty for British propaganda in Catholic Spain was that Britain was not a Catholic country. Indeed, worse than that was Britain’s alliance with the atheist Soviet Union. However, it is perhaps surprising that Bannister does not reference the role of Professor Walter Starkie, the Irish Catholic who headed the British Council in Madrid, as part of attempts to persuade Spain to see a different side of Britain.

Editing such a volume of disparate examples and ensuring that there is a common theme throughout is not an easy task. There could always have been different ways to edit such a volume – there are some obvious gaps such as attempts to influence the people of France. There are also two chapters that consider the role of the BBC German Service. These are interesting chapters in themselves looking at different aspects – how the BBC referenced the Holocaust in broadcasts and whether this did or could have made any difference to the events in the concentration camps (Seul); and how the BBC aimed to split the Nazi elite from „ordinary Germans“, including through the use of satire (Oliver). However, instead there could perhaps have been a chapter that compared and contrasted how the Allies attempted to influence the peoples of their two principal enemies, Germany and Italy. All of the chapters tend to focus on single „theatres“ rather than comparing the approaches between them, which is perhaps inevitable in such a volume. Of course, there is always a choice to be had on what to include and exclude, and the volume brings together some intriguing aspects of communications activities in a book that reads well. The editors and contributors should be congratulated on their achievement.