Selling War

'British propoganda brought America to the brink of war, and left it to the Japanese and Hitler to finish the job.' So concludes Nicholas Cull in this absorbing study of how the United States was transformed from isolation to belligerence in the years before the attack on Pearl Harbor. From the moment it realized that all was lost without American aid, the British Government employed a host pf persuasive tactics to draw the U. S. to its rescue. With the help of talents as varied as those of matinee idol Leslie Howard, Oxford philosopher Isaiah Berlin and society photographer Cecil Beaton, no section of America remained untouched and no method - from Secret Service intrigue to the publication of horrifying pictures of Nazi attrocities - remained untried. A fascinating story of how a foreign country promoted America's involvement in its greatest war, Selling War will appeal to all those interested in the modern cultural and political history of Britain in the twentieth century and World War II. The Kirkus Review wrote, 'A valuable study of how British propoganda helped to bring the U. S. into W. W. II...This is a sensible thoughtful, and - in revealing the foibles of many key actors - an often amusing book.'

Cull records in fascinating detail the activities of a small group of dedicated individuals who coalesced around what became the New York-based British Information Services., A major study of Britain's potent efforts to get a reluctant United States to fight., A brilliant original study, An excellent account of the influence of British propaganda in leading America from neutrality in 1939 to intervention in World War II in 1941 ... The book is extremely well-written, and it is full of perceptive insights into the formation of the wartime Anglo-American special relationship., Working from an impressive array of sources including interviews and, unusually, Canadian archives, Nicholas Cull...makes a quite convincing case for strong British influence in the direction of U.S. foreign policy between 1939 and 1941...By adopting an all-encompassing and yet detailed approach to the topic, Cull has bridged a serious gap in academic knowledge.

Nicholas John Cull is Professor of American Studies at the University of Leicester.