The Secret History of PWE: The Political Warfare Executive 1939-1945 Review

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The Secret History of PWE: The Political Warfare Executive 1939-1945 ReviewFour stars only for the following reason.
Andrew Roberts, who penned the Introduction to this book, concluded it with the following phrase: "Sir Winston Churchill once said that in war the truth needed to be protected by 'a bodyguard of lies'. This is the story of the men and women who constituted that bodyguard." Paraphrasing him, I would say that "The Secret History of PWE" is the truth about the Political Warfare Executive, protected by a bodyguard of silences. A couple of examples from the book, to substantiate this claim. Andrew Roberts says in his opening para: "We can for the first time now know the whole truth about the British (and later Allied) propaganda effort in the Second World War...". Seven pages down the road, in his closing para Andrew Roberts says: "We know from Sefton Delmer's autobiography, "Black Boomerang", that a large number of PWE's files were destroyed after the war..." Sefton Delmer, PWE's No 1 man for black propaganda, is said to be, in a caption accompanying his picture, "Britain's most fertile 'Black' propagandist, the hero of this book". Indeed, with pictures of only 11 men (including the author himself) in the illustrations, Delmer becomes one of very selected few. And yet, when you have finished reading the last page, you can't stop wondering why on earth did they tag him "the hero of this book"? Not because the man does not deserve it - he does - but because there is so precious little real information about his particular department, even less about its work, and almost nothing about its achievements. These (and many others) are the disappointing and disturbing silences I am talking about when I say that the truth in this book is protected by a bodyguard of them. This disappointment is particularly big in my case since I came across the book, found it of particular interest and went on purchasing it with my own money - while doing research on Sefton Delmer's record in black propaganda.
But I give four full stars to the book nevertheless. It portrays with perfect sobriety and meticulous detail the true orwellian Ministry of Truth at work, but without the anti-utopian angle and the democratic prejudice: it's war time, and Britain has got nothing to lose. And if you miss one of the author's main conclusions, you will definitely enjoy and appreciate the mastery of David Garnett's writing; but if you don't, you won't. Because his strong conviction is: "Political Warfare will play a larger part in future both in peace and war". If one rethinks the whole book all over again with this final conclusion in mind, the four stars will most probably remain a fair rating. Its rationale, though, will undergo a drastic change: it will become a thank you for the warning from an insider.The Secret History of PWE: The Political Warfare Executive 1939-1945 Overview

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