Description
Book SynopsisArgues that the television series
The Big Picture, like others produced during that time by the armed forces, served as a vehicle for directed propaganda, scripted to send important Cold War messages to both those in uniform and the American public.
Trade ReviewThe past is always a foreign country, but few media documents underline that more clearly than
The Big Picture, the US Army’s documentary television program that played on US channels from the 1950s to the early 1970s. John W. Lemza’s pathbreaking study reveals the astonishing penetration of US government propaganda into Cold War homes through this program. He goes on to show how an analysis of that material can itself become an important window on shifting ideas of nation, race, and gender. This book is a remarkable addition to the literature on US Cold War media history, made all the more exciting by the new accessibility of the programs themselves online." - Nicholas J. Cull, author of
The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945–1989"John W. Lemza turns our attention to a technology of warfare deployed far from the battlefield: the small screen.
The Big Picture explains the significance of the television show the US Army used to tell its story and sell its relevance, from the interservice rivalries of the early Cold War through the social divisions of the US war in Vietnam." - Beth Bailey, Foundation Distinguished Professor and director, Center for Military, War, and Society Studies, University of Kansas
