Garry Campion

The Good Fight

Battle of Britain Propaganda and the Few

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

How critical was propaganda to national survival during the Battle of Britain? The struggle for air supremacy lasted for just sixteen weeks during the summer and autumn of 1940, yet its outcome was vital in thwarting Hitler's invasion plans. The RAF's 'fighter boys', Churchill's 'Few', were central to that achievement, sustaining the morale of millions through their heroism. A propaganda victory within a military success, the Air Ministry daily projected their prowess through its Air Communiqués to national and international audiences, using the press, newsreels, and radio broadcasts. Hotly debated in Britain, Germany and America, opinion hinged critically upon these 'cricket scores', which in turn led to the rapid heroicization of the Few into legend. Propaganda organizations, the media, and censorship were key to this accomplishment and are also explored in The Good Fight. Wartime feature films, art and literature further consolidated the mythicization of the Few, influencing the Battle of Britain's post-war historiography. Only more recently challenged by revisionists, these aspects too are assessed in this comprehensive, illustrated account of a key moment in Britain's history.
This book studies the heroicization of 'The Few' during the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940. A propaganda victory within a military success, it was vital to sustaining national morale

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Springer Palgrave Macmillan
• 2009
• Seitenzahl: 387
• Erscheinungstermin: 20. November 2008
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 231mm x 155mm x 23mm
• Gewicht: 595g
• ISBN-13: 9780230279964
• ISBN-10: 0230279961
• Artikelnr.: 30684141

Autorenporträt

GARRY CAMPION is Senior Lecturer in the School of the Arts at the University of Northampton,UK, where he teaches and publishes on heritage management, architectural history and conservation. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Inhaltsangabe

List of Figures Chronology Introduction 'A Tangle of Vapour Trails' - British Propaganda and Propagandists 'Squadrons Up' - The Battle of Britain 'Arise To Conquer' - RAF Morale and Tributes to the Few 'Winged Words' - The Aircraft Claims Propaganda War 'Mastery of the Air' - BBC Home Front Propaganda 'Finest Hour' - Newspaper and Magazine Propaganda 'Men Like These' - The Few in Newsreels and MOI 'Shorts' 'The Sky's the Limit' - The Few and Iconographic Propaganda 'Combat Report' - Reaching Britain, America, the Axis and the World 'The R.A.F. in Action' - The Few on Film 'To So Few' - Wartime Literature and the Few Conclusion Bibliography Appendix

Rezensionen

'An immense, highly detailed, and careful work of scholarship full of subtle nuance and considered judgment as well as informative fact. For anyone seriously interested in the nature and content of the propaganda surrounding the Battle of Britain, The Good Fight will prove indispensable reading. - S.P. MacKenzie, British Scholar

'This is a deep, analytical examination of morale maintenance in a beleaguered island.' - Flypast

'This is the most authoritative account of the Battle of Britain that I have ever encountered. It covers the events of the Battle itself and its importance to the course of Word War II, but it also exhaustively analyses the contemporary reaction to the Battle in official and unofficial propaganda, in newspapers, films, radio, painting and literature, and the process of mythification which the Battle underwent. Written in a thoroughly accessible style, the book is a remarkable achievement in its breadth, its depth and its mastery of the large array of disparate sources.' - Jeffrey Richards, Lancaster University, UK

'In the seventy years since it was fought scores of books have been written about the Battle of Britain. It might have seemed impossible to produce, at this late stage, a thoroughly original contribution to the literature, but this is exactly what Garry Campion has achieved...Campion's rigorous and scholarly analysis takes us as close to the truth as we are ever likely to get.' - Paul Addison, Cerecles

'Garry Campion has undoubtedly made a significant and lasting contribution to Battle of Britain historiography. Although the extent to which Britain actually faced invasion during the summer of 1940 is now debated by historians, the fact remains that it was a significant event - one which continues to arouse great interest amongst enthusiasts and academics alike. That being so, this new and comprehensive study of how the conflict, and the RAF aircrew who fought it, was presented in British wartime propaganda is crucial to our wider understanding of the dramatic events concerned. As scholars seek to further contextualise the Battle of Britain, Garry Campion's "The Good Fight" will become a benchmark in historiography - and an essential point of reference to any student of summer 1940'. - Dilip Sarkar MBE FRHistS BA(Hons), leading authority on the Battle of Britain