The Council on Books in Wartime (1942–1946) was an American non-profit organization founded by

booksellers Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librari ...

, publishers, librarians, authors, and others, in the spring of 1942 to channel the use of books as "weapons in the

war of ideas In politics, a war of ideas is a confrontation among the ideologies that nations and political groups use to promote their domestic and foreign interests. In a war of ideas, the battle space is the public mind, the belief of the peoples who compos ...

" (the council's motto). It promoted the use of books to influence the thinking of the American people regarding

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, to build and maintain the will to win, to expose the true nature of the enemy, to disseminate technical information, to provide relaxation and inspiration, and to clarify war aims and problems of peace.

Members and partners

The Council co-operated with the

Office of War Information The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a United States government agency created during World War II. The OWI operated from June 1942 until September 1945. Through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and other ...

(OWI) and other government agencies, but was itself a voluntary, unpaid, non-governmental organization. Some of those involved on the Council included: W. W. Norton of W. W. Norton & Company,

Bennett Cerf Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearanc ...

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, George A. Hecht of Doubleday & Co., and

Mark Van Doren Mark Van Doren (June 13, 1894 – December 10, 1972) was an American poet, writer and critic. He was a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thin ...

Activities

The Council attempted to achieve its goals by acting as a clearinghouse for book-related ideas, by being an intermediary between the book-trade industry and government agencies, by offering advice to publishers, and by handling all forms of

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

including distribution of reading lists and

pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a hard cover or binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' or it may consist of a ...

s, lectures,

radio programs A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio networ ...

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, informa ...

s, and book promotion and publication. In 1942, the Council created a War Book Panel to choose titles officially recommended by the council. These titles were republished by Council member publishers with a seal of approval, a large "I" on the front cover meaning an "Imperative" book. Six "Imperative" books were published between 1942 and 1945 (see War Book Panel).

Armed Services Editions

In the spring of 1943, the council launched the effort for which it would become best known, the

Armed Services Editions Armed Services Editions (ASEs) were small paperback books of fiction and nonfiction that were distributed in the American military during World War II. From 1943 to 1947, some 122 million copies of more than 1,300 ASE titles were distributed to ...

. By the time the program ended in 1947, it had printed 122,951,031 books, selling them to the government at an average cost of just over six cents a volume. The

brought high-end books to a mass audience, and helped popularize the emerging paperback format. One of the most popular ASE books was '' A Tree Grows in Brooklyn'' (1943) by

Betty Smith Betty Smith (born Elisabeth Lillian Wehner; December 15, 1896 – January 17, 1972) was an American playwright and novelist, who wrote the 1943 bestseller '' A Tree Grows in Brooklyn''. Early years Smith was born Elisabeth Lillian Wehner on Dec ...

, and the ASE's distribution of

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...

's novel ''

The Great Gatsby ''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts First-person narrative, first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious mil ...

'' helped revive interest in the book. In 1944, the council launched Oversees Editions, Inc, a subsidiary aimed at distributing American books to civilian populations abroad, to promote a positive view of American culture.

Dissolution

With the end of World War II, the Council on Books in Wartime ceased active operations on Jan 31, 1946 but maintained its corporate entities to deal with the dispersal of remaining funds and the safekeeping of records.

References

External links

Council on Books in Wartime Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Council On Books In Wartime Organizations established in 1942 Organizations disestablished in 1946 1942 establishments in the United States Communications and media organizations based in the United States United States home front during World War II United States government propaganda organizations