Dr David Monger is Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
Impressively detailed, this book is a major, original and illuminating contribution to the scholarship of propaganda. Gradually, much of the scaffolding of the influential, but historically inaccurate, depiction of British opinion during the First World War, reflected in countless novels as well as older historical studies, is being dismantled. The disillusionment of the war poets is no longer seen as typical of soldiers' attitudes and the fortitude of British society is increasingly recognised. The view of public opinion in 1914 as overwhelmed by war hysteria and unthinking jingoism has been replaced by one of a reluctant but resolute nation convinced of the justice of the war. But the question remains as to how morale was maintained as the conflict dragged on and the casualties and deaths mounted. David Monger addresses this question in a detailed examination of the role of the hitherto unexplored history of the National War Aims Committee (NWAC), a semi-official parliamentary organisation set up with cross-party support in the summer of 1917. Monger argues that earlier in the war, censorship had been limited, the press was relatively free and despite the Defence of the Realm Act 1914, powers to suppress unwelcome publications were sparingly used. Meanwhile, encouragement of support for the war had been left to a hotchpotch of voluntary organisations and branches of the Foreign Office and the Directorate of Military Intelligence. Even the NWAC's "semi-official" status points to government ambivalence about propaganda and, Monger suggests, a desire to keep it at arm's length. It was only in the most testing year of the war that the new prime minister, David Lloyd George (who had worried as early as 1915 about how long morale could be maintained in the face of mounting casualties and no sign of victory), encouraged the creation of an organisation responsible for propaganda to combat war-weariness and pacifism. Until 1917, governments had been relatively sanguine about support for the war effort. Voluntary enlistment had produced the "Kitchener" armies, while the political parties had called an electoral truce. Government, trade unions and employers all combined to direct industry and labour to the war effort. Even during the unprecedentedly deadly Somme offensive in 1916, public opinion, although shocked, remained resolute. There was opposition to the war, of course, but as Monger points out, even critics in the Independent Labour Party and the Union of Democratic Control tended to accept that the war had to be fought and largely limited their attacks to its conduct. In 1917, however, faith in victory began to weaken. U-boat warfare led to food shortages and industrial disputes indicated a slackening of organised labour's support for the war, while the Russian Revolution, mutinies in the French army and a socialist conference in Leeds in June, during which calls for the creation of workers' and soldiers' councils were made, led to fears of militant activity. Were morale, the war effort and even the stability of state and society in danger? Monger's analysis suggests that this was not the case, but that what was required was an effective appeal to patriotism and a reaffirmation of the justice of Britain's war. The answer was found in the creation of the NWAC. The NWAC's national network of agents and committees concentrated less, this study argues, upon vilification of the enemy than positive patriotism. Its success in reviving national confidence in the last years of the war was due to the nature of its patriotic language: it built upon familiar forms of loyalty current in pre-war Britain and created a tapestry of patriotism that combined devotion to community, nation and empire with praise for the values of Britain and its allies. Perhaps, when so many have seen the First World War as a great watershed, the most radical element in this book is its emphasis on the continuity of national cohesion and consciousness in early 20th-century Britain. ... the most radical element in this book is its emphasis on the continuity of national cohesion and consciousness in early 20th-century Britain. In this fine monograph, based almost entirely on his PhD thesis, David Monger assesses the propaganda activities of the National War Aims Committee (NWAC) during the First World War, a focus which has already been supplemented by a number of journal articles in the last few years, relating to propaganda, and civilian and servicemen morale during this period. Though much consideration has been given to the domestic efforts during the initial stages of the war in 'general' propaganda terms by the likes of Sanders, Taylor, and Haste, as well as the propaganda efforts of Wellington House in influencing public opinion abroad, little academic attention has been paid to the work of the NWAC during the course of its existence. This is despite it being an organisation that, in the last 15 months of the war, held 1000s of meetings across Britain, on top of distributing over 100 million publications. In the first instance, Monger states that, at the basic level, the NWAC was a cross party parliamentary organisation, similar to that of the earlier Parliamentary Recruiting Committee (PRC), which was established to conduct propaganda within Britain, aimed at maintaining civilian morale in the last and most draining months of the war (p. 1). In addition to detailing the activities of the NWAC and its impact, Monger seeks to answer two wider questions: namely, what is the significance of the NWAC's evocation of patriotism for general understandings of patriotism and national identity in Britain and what does the NWAC's story suggest about the war's impact on British society and culture? As shall be demonstrated throughout the course of this review, he does this rather successfully, along with detailing and scrutinising other key aspects of this topic with confidence. This is done by splitting the book up into three parts. Firstly, the development and the organisation of the NWAC are discussed within the context of British public opinion after the campaigns on the Somme in July 1916. Secondly, the types of propaganda that were produced are examined, and this includes the different formats in which this propaganda was presented, along with the many, wide-ranging, themes covered by the work of NWAC propagandists. Importantly, the broader context of British national identity is outlined in order to place the work of the organisation into the wider historiographical debates surrounding national identity during the 19th and early 20th century. Finally, the impact of the NWAC both during and after the war is assessed, together with the responses of parliament, pressure groups and at a local level (largely with reference to reactions by local newspapers - 68 local newspapers have been consulted in total). Crucially, although the work itself is set out into these three distinct parts, Monger ably ties them together, giving the thesis a natural flow and a logical direction. The first task ahead of Monger was to outline the creation and mechanisms in which the NWAC operated from its inception in mid-1917 and, in doing this, he seeks to dispel the view, put forward by Brock Millman (1), that the propaganda of the NWAC had a 'secret repressive agenda'. Initially privately funded, but later given funding by Cabinet, the NWAC was able to conduct a variety of different modes of dissemination of propaganda, from hiring local public speakers, holding meetings, setting up mobile cinemas, and producing written material, both as pamphlets and for the press. The organisation of these sorts of activities, particularly the 'almost devotional faith in the power and importance of public meetings', was carried out near factories, in rural districts with perceived anti-war feeling, military camps, and towards woman, ultimately covering a large proportion of the population (pp. 42-3). What Monger sees as an important aspect to this organisation is its close association with its predecessor, the PRC, including a close parallel of personnel, and also the fact that it was an all-party organisation, with much of the work being turned over to the local Conservative, Liberal and Labour Party machines, meaning that any question of party politics coming into play was dispelled. To Monger, this mixture of resources from a central organisation and the employment of local knowledge, meant that the NWA could be more flexible and locally responsive within its campaign, and consequently the principle of local involvement meant that propaganda was imparted to, rather than imposed upon, the public (p. 63). This is an important point to make, particularly in respect of previous failures to adapt to this local understanding of propaganda dissemination, most notably in areas such as Ireland (which had a unique position within this context anyway). It also shows a recognition of differing circumstances and motivations within urban and rural areas. In all, using the NWAC's card index (from records held at TNA), Monger outlines that a total of 344 War Aims Committees were established, out of a total of 528 constituencies or regional areas (p. 69). With this in mind, he categorises these into a number of 'types': urban, mainly middle-class; urban, mixed class; urban mainly working-class; urban/rural; and mining, demonstrating that local mechanisms were present in all of these 'types' of areas during the course of its existence (pp. 70-3). It is from these classifications, as well as a further regional breakdown of North, Midlands/Wales, and London/South, that the selection of his case studies for further scrutiny and supporting evidence, were chosen. A total of 30 constituencies were selected to provide the basis as case studies, decided upon by the calculation of proportions of those categories mentioned above, meaning that ten case studies were used for each region. It is with these case studies that a minor criticism might be cited, specifically that case studies of 30 constituencies out of a total of 344, a little under 10 per cent, does not quite seem an adequate enough sample to be fully confident that fair coverage has been given across the board. Having said that, the risk that any major conclusions or analysis might have been missed due to this relatively small sample is low. Furthermore, the specific constituencies are listed in an appendix (pp. 275-8), along with their respective party affiliations, and it is clear from this that a fair representation of areas has been considered. In a sense, all of the 'bases' have been covered within the sample, especially with regard to the different classifications used, so as to be able to demonstrate responses to this propaganda from a cross-section of British society. The second part of Monger's work is perhaps the most important, as it analyses the imagery and oratory used to convince the British public to continue to support the war. Monger seeks to identify the ideological structure of NWAC propaganda, and determines that the core narrative of the NWAC's message revolved around patriotic duty. This included a 'three-pronged' mixture, combining 'civic patriotism', suffused with rhetoric of 'sacrificial patriotism', with an evocation of what he terms 'concrescent community', growing together through shared sacrifice and acceptance of duty (p. 86). Monger asserts that there was nothing greatly original about the types of patriotic ideas and imagery as used by the NWAC, that the theme of Empire was featured frequently within this propaganda, and that the propagandists working for the NWAC identified several adversaries, both foreign and domestic, rather than 'a single, over-arching 'other' against which to test British identity (pp. 89-91). Crucially, what Monger affirms is that the NWAC utilised traditional propaganda methods and themes to present their goals, and points to the primacy of religious (i.e. Christian) imagery within their presentation, whilst also linking the continuities of this within representations of propaganda in France, Germany, and Russia during the 19th century (pp. 101-2). This is then taken further with an interesting, and contextual, analysis of the theories of 'communities' and 'identity', put forward by the likes of Peter Mandler and Matthew Vickers in existing historiography on this subject (pp. 103-5), which assist in demonstrating the NWAC's representations of 'Britishness' within their propaganda. It is then asserted that NWAC propaganda was represented in four crucial forms which sought to articulate the core message of patriotic duty, whilst conjointly conveying the idea of British identity. Firstly, the assessment of the presentation of adversaries at home and abroad is carried out. Importantly, it is established that this 'adversarial patriotism' did not, and was not intended to, define British identity, but rather to highlight possible threats to it (pp. 138-9), including, most obviously, the threat of Germany, and to a much lesser extent Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, but also highlighting the threat of pacifists and strikers within British society. Secondly, the demonstration of civilizational principles, or as Monger labels it 'supranational patriotisms', which celebrated Britain's similarities with, and differences from, its allies are discussed, particularly in relation to the USA, France, and the white Dominions (p. 140). This includes details of the celebration of 'France Day' on 12 July 1918, in which the tricolore was flown and the Marseillaise was played in public places. He determines that ultimately 'in claiming that the war was fought on behalf of civilisation, NWAC propaganda sought to elevate it above matters of national interests and power politics, recognising that ... they were inappropriate for maintaining civilians' emotional investment in a physically and mentally draining total war' (p. 154). Thirdly, what Monger sees as the narrative core of NWAC propaganda is discussed, namely the presentation of 'patriotisms of duty'. This revolved around the message that the British people not only had a particular national identity, but were duty-bound to maintain it (p. 169). It is within this that Monger refers back to his idea of a 'three-pronged mixture' of civic patriotism, sacrificial patriotism, and concrescent community, creating the core message of duty. He believes, as it was a flexible concept, it was capable of use as an instrument of moral and emotional blackmail, by stressing the sacrifices of servicemen, while also creating a communal tie between the civilian and soldier by emphasising a common willing sacrifice (p. 196). The forth form of presentation used by NWAC propagandists was that of promises for the future, or 'aspirational patriotism', and this section of Mongers' work deserves a more detailed review. It is established that the content of the propaganda 'prophesied a more harmonious and equitable society in post-war Britain, extending rhetoric about the social ameliorations already stimulated by the war'. Furthermore, issues such as reconstruction, social and electoral reform, class and gender harmonisation 'were all presented as rewards for the patient wartime services and sacrifices of servicemen and civilians, with the implicit corollary that any calls for such improvements before peace were selfish and short-sighted' (p. 199). In this assessment Monger is correct, what is perhaps lacking within this section, however, is a contextual analysis of this form of propaganda, as displayed in previous chapters. In particular, it is not discussed whether a similar presentation was used in the propaganda of other counties, especially that of France, the USA, or even within the Empire. This might establish, and further support, the notion that NWAC propaganda was largely unoriginal, following standard patterns of representation. An additional comparison might also have been carried out in relation to visions of the future displayed in the propaganda of agencies during the Second World War. In particular, the activities of the Army Bureau of Current Affairs (ABCA) might have been discussed, given the widely held view that the many promises of the future (especially the establishment of a welfare state) put forward in its propaganda, contributed, at least in a small part, to the Labour Party election victory in 1945. Perhaps, in this particular section of the book, it was not the place to discuss this kind of outcome, but certainly would have had some place in the final section of the book, which looks at the impact of the NWAC. The impact of the NWAC is discussed by Monger in two different strands. The response of Parliament, pressure groups, and the national press is at first outlined. It is summarised that 'notwithstanding the generally agreed importance of maintaining civilian morale, the existence of a publicly funded body intended to persuade civilians to act and think in certain ways offered troubling possibilities of future exploitation', or a premium on corruption (p. 217). Critics of the NWAC maintained that its establishment was a shambolic failure, while the press often portrayed general indifference, with occasional criticism of particularly poor work. As Monger points out, however, these critics, paradoxically, demonstrated concern about its influence, above all during the general election campaign (p. 240). Within this, the Committee was also deemed to be an official organ, supporting the interests of the Coalition Government but, as Monger demonstrates throughout much of his work; it was actually able to keep away from party politics for the majority of its existence. Secondly, the impact of the NWAC at a local and individual level is assessed, and it is here that Monger demonstrates that the Committee had its most important outcome. Primarily, what the NWAC did, according to Monger, was to maintain a presence in small communities, linking them with the nation by reminding them of issues outside of their immediate horizon (p. 267). Ultimately, it is established that the perception of First World War propaganda is one centred on the cynical manipulation of the public by the state, and that this has encouraged equally cynical interpretations of propaganda (p. 273). What Monger does successfully in his study is to look at the NWAC and its propaganda within the context of the period, whilst also contextualising it into a wider understanding of patriotism and identity within the early 20th century, demonstrating that the sentiments expressed within this propaganda were considered valid and meaningful by large sections of the population at this time (p. 274). Monger has been able to shed important light on a crucial propaganda organisation, existing during the last months of the war when the maintenance of morale had become so important, and successfully presents this in a fashion that would interest anyone concerned with the employment of propaganda in the early part of the 20th century. Notes 1. Brock Millman, Managing Domestic Dissent in First World War Britain (London, 2000).Back to (1) Monger has been able to shed important light on a crucial propaganda organisation, existing during the last months of the war when the maintenance of morale had become so important, and successfully presents this in a fashion that would interest anyone concerned with the employment of propaganda in the early part of the 20th century. British propagandists have seldom fared well when analysed by historians. Historians of popular imperialism and propaganda have focused on the manipulation of public opinion. Historians of wartime propaganda have concentrated on either the coercion of civilian minds or the suppression of dissent. David Monger's new book Patriotism and Propaganda in First World War Britain challenges these orthodoxies. His work examines the National War Aims Committee (NWAC), which he describes as a 'cross-party parliamentary organisation established to conduct propaganda within Britain, aimed at maintaining civilian morale in the last and most draining months of the First World War' (p. 1). His book is based on substantial primary source research and breaks new ground by thoroughly evaluating the NWAC's organization as well as the content (both visual and written) and reception of its propaganda. His book could have been even more effective if it streamlined its categorizations of the types of patriotisms, bulked up its analysis of the reception of the propaganda, and considered at length the resemblance of the NWAC's operation to general election political campaigns. Monger has undertaken exhaustive primary source research. In addition to the NWAC records from the National Archives, he has consulted the papers of leading First World War era figures including Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Patrick Hannon, David Lloyd George, Ramsay MacDonald, and E.D. Morel. He has also made good use of the archives of the Liberal and Conservative parties as well as Labour Party Conference reports. He has used an enormous range of national and local newspaper publications and has consulted several memoirs. Monger is equally thorough in cataloguing the various types of patriotism under the framework of what he terms 'presentational patriotisms'. Such patriotisms had immense range and flexibility and included (but were not limited to) a focus on local and regional affiliations, spirituality, civic duty, aspirations for the future, and a spirit of sacrifice. Such analysis of the multiplicity of patriotisms is important for several reasons. First, it shows how flexible propagandists needed to be to retain their effectiveness. Second, it shows the continued public importance of Christianity as a part of British national culture. Although much effort has been devoted to studying the secularization of Britain, Monger reveals that First World War propagandists considered Christianity as a key part of the battle of ideas even to the extent of portraying the Germans as un-Christian. Third, his book shows that amorphous concepts such as honour, democracy, justice, and liberty had broad circulation amongst the British public. Nevertheless, in his extensive discussion of NWAC content, Monger may have provided the reader with too much of a good thing. Whereas his book devotes three chapters to the establishment and operation of the NWAC and two chapters on its impact, he has fully five chapters on the content of NWAC propaganda. Although the content material is rich, a few chapters might have been combined to increase the amount of analysis devoted to the reception of the propaganda and the intersection of the NWAC with partisan party politics. It is difficult to discover how any propaganda is received. Monger has dug into local newspaper reports as well as reports from NWAC speakers on the attentiveness and size of their audiences. He has show considerable diligence in assembling a card-index database of 30 local constituency case studies that are varied by region, types of social composition, and party affiliation. He has duly noted references to the NWAC and its 'prestige' amongst leading politicians as well as press reaction and government reports on morale. However, the book does not really explain the impact of NWAC propaganda on the common person. Other than some references to Robert Roberts and the autobiography of a Hackney shoemaker there seems to be few working-class responses. More surprisingly, there seems to be little reference to famous soldier writers such as Robert Graves or the less heralded writers of the acerbic 'trench journalism' who were pitiless in their satire of the noble patriotisms held by those on the home front. Perhaps the ultimate impact of the NWAC on ordinary people may have been on the vituperative attitude of British voters (especially newly enfranchised women) during the December 1918 general election campaign. Monger notes that the NWAC suspended operations shortly after the Armistice. Although this is true, he might have considered how the public venom towards Germany (especially on the issues of German reparations and the war guilt of the Kaiser) in that campaign may be part of the ultimate legacy of the NWAC. Monger is at pains to reject past scholarly treatments of the NWAC by Brock Millman and others who have portrayed it as a coercive centrally organized body that was part of the Lloyd George government's attack on public liberties and suppression of dissent. Monger is successful at showing the ways in which the NWAC gave strong local autonomy to its constituent parts. In essence, Monger's interpretation of the NWAC echoes John Horne's views of the re-mobilization of civil society in the later years of the war. Monger's interpretation of the NWAC is more convincing than that of Millman. However, there are two political and organizational questions Monger could have considered. First, though he insists on the cross party nature of the NWAC and its non-partisan nature, having the Irish Unionist leader Edward Carson as the NWAC's voice in the War Cabinet until his resignation in January 1918 is telling. Carson had been both the arch opponent of prewar Liberal effort to pass Home Rule and a leading force in the overthrow of the Asquith government in December 1916. Monger does criticize Carson for his hawkish reputation and lack of administrative finesse. However, more in-depth analysis of why Lloyd George agreed to appoint such a bete noire of the Liberals into this supposedly non-partisan position would have been useful. Second, Monger might have contemplated further, how much the NWAC in its operation may have resembled general election campaigns. As Martin Pugh and others have pointed out, a flexible national message with core ideas that could be adapted to fit local or regional audiences was a standard way of conducting general election political campaigns in early twentieth-century Britain and beyond. Although the NWAC was conducting propaganda rather than undertaking overt partisan electioneering, its organizational basis on constituencies, its flexible categories of patriotism, and its use of party agents makes that similarity compelling. In sum, Monger has written an important book. The NWAC has lacked a balanced treatment. Patriotism and Propaganda in First World War Britain is a definitive study of the NWAC organization and the content of its propaganda. Furthermore, Monger shows wartime propaganda was far more nuanced, flexible, and open to public concern than previously thought. Where he could have improved his book even further is through a more developed consideration of the impact of NWAC propaganda on its audience and its resemblance to the methods of British general election campaigns. Monger has written an important book. The NWAC has lacked a balanced treatment. Patriotism and Propaganda in First World War Britain is a definitive study of the NWAC organization and the content of its propaganda. David Monger has written a comprehensive and exhaustive study of the National War Aims Committee (NWAC), a semiofficial parliamentary organization devoted to improving civilian morale in Britain during the difficult years of 1917 and 1918. The NWAC was devised to combat war-weariness among civilians and produced large quantities of propaganda, as well as sponsoring hundreds of meetings at which an array of patriotic speakers attempted to stoke morale at the local level. These meetings, often attended by ramshackle groups of children and women looking for a bit of entertainment, were meant to ignite enthusiasm for the war effort and to resurrect some of the spirit of 1914. The efforts of the NWAC suggest to Monger that "the meaning and representation of wartime patriotism clearly did not die with the New Divisions at Loos or the Somme, and nor should the war be seen as an abrupt end to the 'long nineteenth century.'" Instead, Monger emphasizes the "substantial continuities that can be identified with pre-war British society" and argues that "NWAC propaganda remained a recognizable descendant of the pre-war 'language of patriotism'" (13). Monger is quite clear, however, that "to do justice to the state of civilian morale in 1917-18 would require a far larger book" (10). His study, therefore, goes into minute detail about the bureaucratic setup and organization of the NWAC and summarizes every conceivable type of propaganda used by the organization without commenting much on the larger issue of British civilian morale at the end of the war. This level of nitty-gritty and comprehensive detail is understandable in a doctoral dissertation, out of which Monger's study grew, but would ideally be cut and conceptually expanded before publication. The result is an unedited study of the NWAC that will be useful to specialists wishing to write about that organization but will be hard going for the generalist interested in civilian restiveness during the final years of the conflict. Monger begins with the development and personnel of and the debates over the NWAC, as well as its indebtedness to the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, a similar organization formed at the beginning of the war to stoke enlistment. This section covers the funding and structure of the NWAC and the changes in its organization over the months of its operation, offering numerous charts and graphs regarding the constituencies that held NWAC events. Not surprisingly, the NWAC seems to have been more controversial in Labor constituencies, being a largely middle-class endeavor to combat perceived war-weariness among British workers. Monger concludes this section by showing the way party political organizations in the constituencies facilitated the work of the NWAC, tailoring the message to immediate local needs. The national message was thus brought to individual constituencies through the initiative of local agents, often Liberal or Conservative party elites, who organized meetings, distributed publications, and introduced speakers to the people of their own districts. The second part of Monger's book examines NWAC propaganda. As Monger rightly observes, "There was nothing greatly original about the types of patriotic ideas and imagery used in NWAC propaganda" (86). In an effort to summarize the content of NWAC propaganda, he notes that the "core duty message was actually a three-pronged mixture, combining a hortatory 'civic patriotism', suffused with the self-denying rhetoric of 'sacrificial patriotism', with a celebratory evocation of what may be termed a 'concrescent community' growing together through shared sacrifice and acceptance of duty" (86). Detailing "various contextual sub-patriotisms," Monger goes on to enumerate and give examples of each type of patriotic evocation used in NWAC propaganda. He concludes that "by adapting traditional patriotic themes for a war-weary civilian population, NWAC propagandists produced a narrative of Britishness through various presentational sub-patriotisms which, though capable of independent application, were mutually dependent, interactive and reinforcing" (111). Such propaganda was vividly displayed in the NWAC newspaper Reality, which claimed to be "The World's Searchlight on Germany" and continually drew invidious comparisons between Britain and her enemy, particularly with accounts of German atrocities, British civility, and an idealized "future without war" that would be ushered in by British victory. The final section of Patriotism and Propaganda addresses the impact of the NWAC. The organization required parliamentary approval for Government funds that would be distributed to the party political organizations running War Aims propaganda in the constituencies. Naturally, MPs raised concerns that what was meant to be national propaganda would, in such hands, turn into party political propaganda, raising questions about the potential electoral impact of the NWAC. Because the objectives of the NWAC were explicitly antipacifist, the allegation that its funding was being used for political purposes was not without merit. Sustaining criticism from the Liberal and Labor Left, from right-wing rivals such as Horatio Bottomley, and general indifference from the press as a whole, the NWAC nevertheless continued to function-largely, it seems-because politicians could not resist the opportunity to stump even if, as Bottomley derisively commented, it was from a "rickety little stand, from which someone is bawling at a bare patch of gravel" (235). NWAC speakers held hundreds of meetings in many parts of the country, with varied success. Sometimes meetings were well attended and met with the approval of the crowd, which would help the speaker shout down pacifist dissenters. Their aspiration to quell labor unrest with edifying speeches often (by their own assessment) met with success, although most paid speakers tended to emphasize the efficacy of their work rather than providing dispiriting reports to the administration that funded them. While NWAC meetings were novel in 1917 and received a certain amount of coverage in the local press, by 1918 they seemed to have become a routine part of the landscape, duly attended by those with little else to do but exciting little comment. Overall, Monger's assessment of the efficacy of NWAC meetings seems to be that they were fairly useful in combating war-weariness in localities but that their effect is difficult to gauge and was certainly not overwhelming. Following the war, the NWAC was quickly disbanded and its legacy conveniently forgotten in that period's discrediting of propaganda. Yet, Monger argues, the NWAC was relatively effective in presenting a vision of Britain and Britishness that had many continuities with prewar patriotism and that would serve again in the Second World War. Because of the longevity of these ideas and tropes, war propaganda was not as novel as supposed but, rather, provided ballast to shore up patriotic feelings through a diverse array of motifs that had been part of Britain's patriotic heritage in the prewar period. The work of the NWAC did not, thus, demonstrate a cynical rupture with the past or usher in a new "modern memory" but instead evoked older bucolic themes that would be used again during the 1940s-and perhaps never entirely abandoned. While Monger's study is a useful and detailed summary of the work of the NWAC, it is primarily a specialist's book, offering comprehensive treatment without much in the way of overarching analysis. The old chestnut of whether the war was "modern" or not is addressed tangentially, making only casual appearances in a work that offers completeness and thorough coverage of the NWAC rather than any novel interpretive framework for understanding the Great War. ...the NWAC mattered, and was seen to matter. The same can, and should, be said of this monograph. Monger has written an interesting and original book on an important subject; this work deserves to become required reading not only for students of wartime propaganda, but for anyone interested in the nature of the wartime British state, or in the very idea of "patriotism" in modern Britain.
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