Paul Mason on Friedrich's 'War Against War'

Paul Mason of The Guardian reviews War Against War!, published by Spokesman, in his piece 'Horrific pictures of dead bodies won't stop wars' (23 November 2014).

'Friedrich’s work represented a breakthrough. Before then, imagery of war had been subject to absolute censorship during conflict and diluted for the sake of “taste and decency” by the media during peacetime.'

Mason juxtaposes Friedrich's intentions in publishing this graphically illustrated book against the frustrations of contemporary war journalists and photographers; whereas 'the first world war was begun in ignorance about the horrors of war', now 'a disbelieving public has come to see all graphic imagery of war as potentially fake, manipulated or propagandist.'

The full article is available to read online here:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/23/horrific-pictures-of-dead-bodies-wont-stop-wars

War Against War! by Ernst Friedrich is available from Spokesman Books at:
http://www.spokesmanbooks.com/acatalog/shop.html [scroll down]

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