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The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler
by Peter Pomerantsev
From one of our leading experts on disinformation, this inventive biography of the rogue WWII propagandist Sefton Delmer confronts hard questions about the nature of information war: what if you can't fight lies with truth? Can a propaganda war ever be won?
In the summer of 1941, Hitler ruled Europe from the Atlantic to the Black Sea. Britain was struggling to combat his powerful propaganda machine, crowing victory and smearing his enemies as liars and manipulators over his frequent radio speeches, blasted out on loudspeakers and into homes. British claims that Hitler was dangerous had little impact against this wave of disinformation.
Except for the broadcasts of someone called Der Chef, a German who questioned Nazi doctrine. He had access to high-ranking German military secrets and spoke of internal rebellion. His listeners included German soldiers and citizens, as well as politicians in Washington DC who were debating getting into the war. And—most importantly—Der Chef was a fiction. He was a character created by the British propagandist Thomas Sefton Delmer, a unique weapon in the war.
Then, as author Peter Pomerantsev seeks to tell Delmer's story, he is called into a wartime propaganda effort of his own: the US response to the invasion of Ukraine. In flashes forward to the present day, Pomerantsev weaves in what he's learning from Delmer as he seeks to fight against Vladimir Putin's tyranny and lies. This book is the story of Delmer and his modern investigator, as they each embark on their own quest to manipulate the passions of supporters and enemies, and to turn the tide of an information war, an extraordinary history that is informing the present before our eyes.
"A brilliantly inspired study of the power of propaganda to influence geopolitical narratives." ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"[Pomerantsev's] prose sparkles and his delineation of Delmer's theories of propaganda fascinates… a fleet-footed history of propaganda." ―Publishers Weekly
"A fascinating wartime biography that is also an inquiry into one of the most urgent issues in modern politics. Highly recommended." ―Gideon Rachman, Financial Times
"An excellent work of history carefully researched and beautifully written, and at once a profound study of a central problem of our time. To be read by everyone seeking perspective on all the lies of war and all the wars of lies." ―Timothy Snyder, bestselling author of On Tyranny
"This is an original work of historical research and critical analysis, written with a literary flourish. Peter Pomerantsev digs deep into the history of information warfare to help us understand how to fight charlatans and fear mongers in the present." ―Anne Applebaum, bestselling author of Twilight of Democracy
This information about How to Win an Information War was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Peter Pomerantsev is a senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University, where he co-directs the Arena Initiative. He is the author of Nothing is True and Everything is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia, which won the 2016 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, and of This is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality.
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