War Primer

A terrifying series of short poems by one of the world s leading playwrights, set to images of World War II
In this singular book written during World War II, the renowned playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht takes photographs from newspapers and popular magazines and puts short epigraph poems to each, in a unique attempt to understand the truth of war using mass media.
From catastrophic bombings, to propaganda portraits of leading Nazis, to scenes of unbearable tragedy on the battlefield, this is an anthology of horror, but accompanied by Brecht s razor-sharp deconstruction of what we see, through his taut, angry and direct poems.
The result is an outstanding literary memorial to World War II, and also one of the most spontaneous, revealing and moving of Brecht s works."

A terrifying series of short poems by one of the world's leading playwrights, set to images of World War II
In this singular book written during World War Two, Bertolt Brecht presents a devastating visual and lyrical attack on war under modern capitalism.
He takes photographs from newspapers and popular magazines, and adds short lapidary verses to each in a unique attempt to understand the truth of war using mass media.
Pictures of catastrophic bombings, propaganda portraits of leading Nazis, scenes of unbearable tragedy on the battlefield -- all these images contribute to an anthology of horror, from which Brecht's perceptions are distilled in poems that are razor-sharp, angry and direct.
The result is an outstanding literary memorial to World War Two and one of the most spontaneous, revealing and moving of Brecht's works.