Posters of the Great War: Published in Association with Historial Museum of the Great War, Peronne, France - Tapa dura

In my own personal library of military literature there are some books that I delve into time and time again and generally come away having learnt (or re-remembered), something new to these titles and in the category of "essential reading", I would unhesitatingly add Posters of The Great War. The reproductions of the posters are first class and of a standard that book lovers have come to expect from Pen & Sword. Nor is the scope of the work confined to those familiar recruiting posters that are so symbolic of the war. Posters of the Great War is, I would argue, an essential addition for libraries and school libraries alike and could be just the thing to excite interest in a new generation of curious enthusiasts or re-kindle a passion in those of us who have been studying the conflict for decades. As far as this somewhat wizened reviewer is concerned, I still found much to intrigue and delight and I know I shall be re-visiting this work again and again. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. 1914-1918.com

Until the arrival of radio and television, and despite the influence of newspapers, posters were the major medium for mass communication. During the Great War all the belligerent nations produced an extraordinary variety of them - and they did so on a massive scale. As the 200 wartime and immediate post-war posters selected for this book reveal, they were one of the most potent, and memorable, ways of conveying news, information and propaganda. In the most graphic and colourful fashion they promoted values such as patriotism and sacrifice. By using rallying symbols such as flags as well as historical and mythical models, they sought to maintain morale and draw people together by stirring up anger against the enemy. Today their remarkable variety of styles give us an instant insight into the themes and messages the military and civilian authorities wished to publicize. The sheer inventiveness of the poster artists is demonstrated as they focused on key aspects of the propaganda campaign in Britain, France, Germany, America and Russia. The diversity of their work is displayed here in chapters that cover recruitment, money raising, the soldier, the enemy, the family and the home front, films and the post-war world. A century ago, when these images were first viewed, they must have been even more striking in contrast to the poor-quality newspaper photographs and postcards that were available at the time. The Great War was to change that forever. It introduced a means of propaganda that was novel, persuasive and above all, powerful. It was the first media war, and the poster played a key role in it.