Spinning History illuminates how all sides used social psychology, propaganda, and drama to shape and skew public opinion during World War II, as well as how these myriad efforts interplayed nationally and internationally during the war and in its history.

editor of Life magazine founding editor of People magazine Stolley, former editorial director of TIME Inc. Another publishing triumph for Nathaniel Lande.” Richard B. This fascinating book explains how Iand millions around the worldwere fed a history lesson full of dramatic propaganda that was aimed at winning our confidence and eventually the war. I was acutely aware of what was going on, right? Little did I know. I listened to FDR’s Fireside chats and network war correspondents on the radio. That gave me unique access to the United Press teletype that day and night poured out news of the world in conflict. At fifteen, I was hired by my local daily newspaper to replace the sports editor who had enlisted in the Navy. I lived through World War II as a well-informed teenager, or so I thought.

The result of this investigation is a wholly distinctive and often surprising work of history, a book that manages to cast a fresh light on the most obsessively studied conflict in human history. Their ambitions were similar, but each leader had his own distinct methods, his own carefully created script for elaborately produced and often wildly successful acts and campaigns of deception to win hearts and minds on the frontlines and the home front. Each side employed uniforms, meticulously staged events, and broadcast their messages via all media availablemotion pictures, radio broadcasts, songs, posters, leaflets, and beyond. Impression management, the art of political spin, was employed to drive the message home with the careful use of black and white propaganda. Brilliantly conceived oratory was applied to underscore each vision.

Each area of the media was fully exploited. He presents the war as a drama that evolved and developed as it progressed, a production staged and overseen by four contrasting masters: Roosevelt, Churchill, Hitler, and Stalin.Įach leader used all the tools at his disposal to present his own distinctive vision of the global drama that was the Second World War.

In this fascinating book, more relevant than ever in today's political climate of 'alternative facts,' bestselling author and historian Nathaniel Lande explores the Great War at the heart of the twentieth century through the prism of theater.

Spinning History by Nathaniel Lande