The Propaganda Front: Postcards from the Era of World Wars

Hardcover | 22.35 x 3.3 x 24.89 cm | 320 pp

Museum Of Fine Arts Boston | 2017 | 9780878467631

A Russian Socialist worker raises the red flag. Adoring crowds greet Hitler and Mussolini. Uncle Sam orders Americans to enlist. These images and many more were circulated by the millions on postcards intended to change minds and inspire actions around the time of the two World Wars. This book is the first publication to comprehensively explore the use of postcards as propaganda on all sides of the major military and political conflicts of the twentieth century, including World Wars I and II.

Whether produced by government propaganda bureaus, opportunistic publishers, aid organisations, or resistance movements, postcards conveyed their messages with striking graphics, pithy slogans, and biting caricatures – and in a uniquely personal format. The more than 350 cards reproduced in full colour in this book advocate for political causes and celebrate war efforts on all sides of the major conflicts of the first half of the twentieth century.

The accompanying text shows how a ubiquitous form of communication served increasingly sophisticated campaigns in an age of propaganda, and highlights the postcards collected here as both priceless historical documents and masterworks of graphic design.