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Book Cover
E-book
Author Messinger, Gary S., 1943-

Title The battle for the mind : war and peace in the era of mass communication / Gary S. Messinger
Published Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, ©2011

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Description 1 online resource
Contents Preface: A change in the landscape -- War encounters mass communication : 1850/1914 -- Mass communication enlists : 1914/1918 -- The democracies try to demobilize : 1919/1939 -- Dictators conquer their media : 1919/1939 -- The battle for the mind deepens : 1939/1945 -- Symbolic war takes precedence : 1945/1991 -- Mass communication becomes multipolar : 1991 and after
Summary "Most people typically think of armed conflict in physical terms, involving guns and bombs, ships and planes, tanks and missiles. But today, because of mass communication, war and the effort to prevent it are increasingly dependent on non-physical factors--the capacity to persuade combatants and citizens to engage in violence or avoid it, and the packaging of the information on which decision making is based. This book explores the many ways that mass communication has revolutionized international relations, whether the aim is to make war effectively or to prevent it. Gary Messinger shows that over the last 150 years a succession of breakthroughs in the realm of media has reshaped the making of war and peace. Along with mass newspapers, magazines, books, motion pictures, radio, television, computer software, and telecommunication satellites comes an array of strategies for exploiting these media to control popular beliefs and emotions. Images of war now arrive in many forms and reach billions of people simultaneously. Political and military leaders must react to crowd impulses that sweep around the globe. Nation-states and nongovernmental groups, including terrorists, use mass communication to spread their portrayals of reality. Drawing on a wide range of media products, from books and articles to films and television programs, as well as his own research in the field of propaganda studies, Messinger offers a fresh and comprehensive overview. He skillfully charts the path that has led us to our current situation and suggests where we might go next."--Page 4 of cover
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject International relations -- History.
Peace-building -- History
War and society -- History
Mass media and propaganda -- History
Communication -- Political aspects -- History
Communication -- Social aspects -- History
Mass media and war -- History
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- General.
Communication -- Political aspects
Communication -- Social aspects
International relations
Mass media and propaganda
Mass media and war
Peace-building
War and society
Journalism & Communications.
Communication & Mass Media.
SUBJECT Europe -- History, Military. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85045720
United States -- History, Military. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140338
Subject Europe
United States
Genre/Form History
Military history
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2010045185
ISBN 9781613760307
1613760302