Description: In December 1921, France broadcast its first public radio program from a transmitter on the Eiffel Tower. In the decade that followed, radio evolved into a mass media capable of reaching millions. Crowds flocked to loudspeakers on city streets to listen to propaganda, children clustered around classroom radios, and families tuned in from their living rooms. Radio and the Politics of Sound in Interwar France, 1921-1939 examines the impact of this auditory culture on French society and politics, revealing how broadcasting became a new platform for political engagement, transforming the act of listening into an important, if highly contested, practice of citizenship. Rejecting models of broadcasting as the weapon of totalitarian regimes or a tool for forging democracy from above, the book offers a more nuanced picture of the politics of radio by uncovering competing interpretations of listening and diverse uses of broadcast sound that flourished between the world wars.
Brief description: Rebecca P. Scales is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York.
Review Quotes: '... a compelling and relevant study, one that situates radio - and auditory culture more broadly - into the wider narrative of French interwar history ... Edifying and engaging with every turn of the page, Radio and the Politics of Sound makes a significant contribution to the historical literature on interwar France, and should be of interest to students and scholars in realms ranging from the social history of technology, interwar French domestic and colonial politics, and any aspect of the social and cultural history of the entre deux guerres.' Adam C. Stanley, H-France