The short-lived Ministry of Information (MoI, 1939–1946) had an outsized impact. It played a key role in the allied war effort, and its work has reverberated in British culture ever since, from its much darker version (as the 'Ministry of Truth') in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four to memes based on the slogan 'Keep Calm and Carry On'. But despite its long legacy, it has been the subject of limited scholarly investigation.

This multi-authored volume corrects this by offering the first comprehensive and global history of the MoI, which introduced something new to British society: the idea of a formal state mechanism to issue and control information. In consequence it was an inherently ambivalent institution: its negative side (the threat of an un-British level of state control) could be offset by the MoI's perceived ability to generate a sense of national purpose at a time of crisis. The remit of the MoI extended far beyond war-time propaganda and the home front, and the book demonstrates the remarkable breadth and depth of its activities: it attempted to justify Britain's empire in varied ways; it was active across a range of media, from pamphlets and posters to public meetings, films and exhibitions; and it was truly transcontintental, with a consolidated presence in many countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Europe.

The book sheds light on an important but little-understood chapter of British wartime history and the final days of the British Empire. The lively and highly illustrated chapters raise important and timely questions about the nature of state surveillance, information, and propaganda in an increasingly global world.

Simon Eliot, Professor Emeritus and Senior Reserach Fellow, Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London,Henry Irving, Senior Lecturer in Public History, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Leeds Beckett University

Simon Eliot is Professor Emeritus of the History of the Book, IES, School of Advanced Study, University of London. He is co-founder and served as second president of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing. He is the author of over fifty articles and of Some Patterns and Trends in British Publishing, 1800-1919 (1994); co-editor of Publishers' Circular/English Catalogue 1837-1900 (1988), Literary Cultures and the Material Book (2007), The Blackwell Companion to the History of the Book (2007, 2019), Allied Communication to the Public during the Second World War (2020); and general editor of The History of Oxford University Press (four volumes, 2013-17).

Henry Irving is a Senior Lecturer in Public History at Leeds Beckett University. He has worked on the project 'A Communication History of the Ministry of Information' since 2014. Henry specialises in the MoI's work on the 'home front'. His research has been published in leading journals, including the English Historical Review and Historical Research, and collections, most recently The Routledge Handbook of Information History (2025). His research has also been felt in the classroom, where his students often find themselves asked to censor a newspaper report or devise a publicity campaign. Henry is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and has held a British Academy Innovation Fellowship to apply his knowledge of wartime publicity to the promotion of the circular economy. Information at War is his first book.

Introduction, Simon Eliot and Henry IrvingPART I EVOLUTION1. The Planning Stage, 1935-9, Henry Irving2. Confusion, 1939-40, Henry Irving3. The Limits of Influence, 1940-1, Henry Irving4. Efficiency over Power, 1941-6, Henry IrvingPART II OPERATION5. Life in Senate House, Simon Eliot6. News Management and Censorship, Henry Irving7. The Postal and Telegraph Censorship, Simon Eliot8. Home Intelligence, Morale, and Market Research, Simon Eliot and Henry Irving9. Publications Mostly for British Readers, Simon Eliot10. Publications Mostly for Readers Abroad, Simon Eliot11. Photographs Division, the Graphic Arts, and Censorship, Simon Eliot and Jane McArthur12. The Exhibitions Division, Jenna Lundin Aral13. The Films Division, Simon Eliot and Hollie Price14. Public Meetings, Simon EliotPart III Combined Operations15. Home Publicity Campaigns, Henry Irving16. Campaigns Abroad, Louis Allday, Christopher Bannister and Marc Wiggam17. The Regions and Their Histories, Simon Eliot and Marc WiggamPart IV Legacy18. The Afterlife of the Ministry of Information, Simon Eliot, Katherine M. Howells and Henry Irving