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Design for Victory: World War II Posters on the American Home Front
Inciting Americans at home to do their part in producing for the war effort, the poster-inexpensive, accessible, and ever-present-was an ideal agent for making war aims the personal mission of every citizen. From 1941 to 1945, government agencies, businesses, and private organizations issued an array of poster images linking the military front with the home front, calling upon all Americans to boost production at work and at home. The U.S. Office of War Information created the "Poster Pledge," urging volunteers to "avoid poster waste," "treat posters as real war ammunition," and "never let a poster lie idle."
This colorful collection of over 150 World War II-era posters focuses on the theme of wartime production on the home front. The range of designs and images will inspire graphic designers, while the descriptive captions and informative text will interest history and military buffs. Some of the famous slogans these posters introduced include "When you ride alone you ride with Hitler," "She won't talk-will you? The enemy has ears," "This is America...Keep it Free," and "Remember Pearl Harbor-purl harder!"
This colorful collection of over 150 World War II-era posters focuses on the theme of wartime production on the home front. The range of designs and images will inspire graphic designers, while the descriptive captions and informative text will interest history and military buffs. Some of the famous slogans these posters introduced include "When you ride alone you ride with Hitler," "She won't talk-will you? The enemy has ears," "This is America...Keep it Free," and "Remember Pearl Harbor-purl harder!"
120 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1998
30 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 26, 2022
Modest in size but with lots of excellent reproductions of wartime propaganda posters, plus interesting commentary. I never knew that so many of these posters were issued, not by the government, but by private corporations: thank Westinghouse for the iconic "We Can Do It!" lady with bandanna, flexed arm, and determined expression. The authors also show how management ingeniously sneaked "management always knows best" messages into supposedly non-partisan patriotic posters. Splendid book!
November 27, 2021
Beautiful images of,and information about posters made during WWII to boost the folks at home. Many of these have to do with rationing, victory gardens and "loose lips." Nicely presented but no posters by Theodore Geisel (Dr Seuss). That's what I was looking for. I guess most of his were done for troops and not for the home front.
December 25, 2016
Incredibly detailed information.
March 15, 2011
If you’re looking for high-quality images of iconic World War II posters, this book delivers. A must-see for anyone interested in mass media, advertising/marketing, and graphic design. And a good fit for our Twitter culture this Veteran’s Day weekend.
I have always been interested in this era, because my Grandfather served in the Navy during World War II. But this book resonates today, especially with the wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, and how they are “marketed” to the American people back at home in the age of 24/7 news media. The parallels? Fascinating… Especially when you consider that this book was published in 1998, pre-dating both of these military actions. Funny how so little in American cultural psychology has changed in sixty-plus years.
But what truly sets Design For Victory apart from other collections are the writings of historians Bird and Rubenstein. Their strong written arguments are backed up by visual evidence right on the same page, which is a format I definitely prefer over more “serious” books on visual media with the graphics included in grainy black and white as endnotes to each chapter. Bird and Rubenstein not only write about a visual medium, but their analysis becomes a visual medium all on its own. It has a beautiful way of folding in upon itself, like a mobius strip. In particular, their analysis of class and gender really sparkle. Everything from the mother and daughter (notably not the son) canning food for the winter — a poster I definitely plan to feature on the next Wordless Wednesday — to the iconic Rosie The Riveter gets examined.
I’m not easily impressed by these types of books. Too common they’re coffee table fluff, designed to be pretty, but never to be read or analyzed beyond the cover. (The Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum’s offering, Fly Now!, comes to mind as an example of this waste.) Design For Victory is the rare exception, and I hope you all will check it out.
http://mkisstacked.wordpress.com/2010...
I have always been interested in this era, because my Grandfather served in the Navy during World War II. But this book resonates today, especially with the wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, and how they are “marketed” to the American people back at home in the age of 24/7 news media. The parallels? Fascinating… Especially when you consider that this book was published in 1998, pre-dating both of these military actions. Funny how so little in American cultural psychology has changed in sixty-plus years.
But what truly sets Design For Victory apart from other collections are the writings of historians Bird and Rubenstein. Their strong written arguments are backed up by visual evidence right on the same page, which is a format I definitely prefer over more “serious” books on visual media with the graphics included in grainy black and white as endnotes to each chapter. Bird and Rubenstein not only write about a visual medium, but their analysis becomes a visual medium all on its own. It has a beautiful way of folding in upon itself, like a mobius strip. In particular, their analysis of class and gender really sparkle. Everything from the mother and daughter (notably not the son) canning food for the winter — a poster I definitely plan to feature on the next Wordless Wednesday — to the iconic Rosie The Riveter gets examined.
I’m not easily impressed by these types of books. Too common they’re coffee table fluff, designed to be pretty, but never to be read or analyzed beyond the cover. (The Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum’s offering, Fly Now!, comes to mind as an example of this waste.) Design For Victory is the rare exception, and I hope you all will check it out.
http://mkisstacked.wordpress.com/2010...
June 6, 2013
A nice collection of posters from during and after WWII.
Relevant and quotable: "In pitting the strategy of truth against the strategy of terror, we cannot stop to educate--we must win the war. We must state the truth in terms that will be understood by all levels of intelligence. Further, we must dramatize the truth." (p.31)
Ladies, and gentlemen, I give you TV news!!
Relevant and quotable: "In pitting the strategy of truth against the strategy of terror, we cannot stop to educate--we must win the war. We must state the truth in terms that will be understood by all levels of intelligence. Further, we must dramatize the truth." (p.31)
Ladies, and gentlemen, I give you TV news!!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews