Spectacular Representations

Abstract

This chapter focuses on spectacles that emerged during and immediately after World War II that were not propaganda per se—that is, in this case, communications deliberately issued by a nation-state for the purposes of waging war—but rather spectacles that emerged either during the war or afterwards that helped to redefine the war and its aftermath. In particular, this chapter considers the emergence of human rights law from World War II. It chapter also considers how American military personnel used books, both those donated for their consumption and those created as paperbacks, designed to fit in the pocket of most military uniforms. While many Americans viewed reading as a symbol of all that fascism stood against (following the German book burnings), the (mostly fictional) works that military personnel were supplied with also served as a palliative to the hardships that they suffered.