Cover image for Information hunters : when librarians, soldiers, and spies banded together in World War II Europe / Kathy Peiss.
TITLE:
Information hunters : when librarians, soldiers, and spies banded together in World War II Europe / Kathy Peiss.
Alternate Title:
When librarians, soldiers, and spies banded together in World War II Europe

When librarians, soldiers, and spies banded together in World War Two Europe

When librarians, soldiers, and spies banded together in World War 2 Europe
Publication Date:
2020
Publication Information:
New York : Oxford University Press,
Physical Description:
xi, 277 p. : ill.
Bibliography Note:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-259) and index.
Summary:
Information Hunters examines the unprecedented American effort to acquire foreign publications and information in World War II Europe. An unlikely band of librarians, scholars, soldiers, and spies went to Europe to collect books and documents to aid the Allies' cause. They travelled to neutral cities to find enemy publications for intelligence analysis and followed advancing armies to capture records in a massive program of confiscation. After the war, they seized Nazi works from bookstores and schools and gathered together countless looted Jewish books. Improvising library techniques in wartime conditions, they contributed to Allied intelligence, preserved endangered books, engaged in restitution, and participated in the denazification of book collections. Information Hunters explores what collecting meant to the men and women who embarked on these missions, and how the challenges of a total war led to an intense focus on books and documents.
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780190944612