For Country, Conscience and Commerce: Publishers and Publishing, 1914–18

Abstract

Just days after the start of the war in Iraq in March 2003, the Today Programme on BBC Radio 4 aired a short segment by the journalist Mike Thompson entitled ‘War Books’, which highlighted the scramble by publishers for soldiers’ memoirs. 1 Hodder & Stoughton’s representative asserted that ‘everybody will want to read about [the war in Iraq]’. Macmillan was touting its potential blockbuster, entitled Task Force Dagger about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. When the Macmillan editorial director was questioned as to whether the book was more fiction than fact, embellished with thrilling action in order to make it sell, she replied, ‘None of us is a charity. It’s not a philanthropic life.’ (A comment she immediately followed with, ‘Oh my God, I am going to get fired!’) Her counterpart at the American firm Simon & Schuster admitted that ‘the bloodier this war turns out to be, the more books it’s likely to sell.’ These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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