Propaganda from China and Japan: A Case Study in Propaganda Analysis

by Bruno Lasker, Agnes Roman

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[James Crawford · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book about what propaganda is and what forms it takes, centering on propaganda from China and Japan. It includes sections like appeals to material interests, appeals to elementary social attitudes, and propaganda in information-given and withheld. It says it's a neutral book, taking neither the side of Japan or China.

I think it's sort of a strange book, severely dated. This was already some years after the invasion of China by Japan, although several years before the attack on Pearl Harbor. I think a book trying to be neutral when historically it had already been established that Japan had invaded China is rather unusual.

I also think that the book is not complete enough at all. Any study of propaganda of the time should include specific examples from radio broadcasts, from plays, from posters, and from books and magazines, and have these from both sides. To me, the book is basically not much more than an outline of what it really should have covered.

Note: This review relates to the original 1938 version, not the 1979 one.