Misinforming A Nation : Willard Wright [ SS Van Dine ]
$200
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Description
Misinforming A Nation — A blistering attack on the Encyclopedia Britannica by controversial journalist and art-critic Willard Wright, also known as SS Van Dine.
Wright , Willard. Misinforming A Nation . BW Huesch : New York. 1917. First Edition.
An unusually impassioned book on what would be a dull subject for many, Misinforming A Nation was written by Willard Wright (who later wrote under the pen name SS Van Dine ) just as the United States entered World War I. Calling the Encyclopedia Britannica a kind of “intellectual colonization”, Wright accuses the editors of intending to skew American public opinion toward Britain and away from other nations like Germany by the overemphasizing or omitting various entries. Arguing that Americans prize British culture among all other European ones, Wright suggests that this is an inherited and intentional deception which locks the United States into negatively self-comparisons with its former ruler.
Accused of being a spy for Germany in November 1917, Wright’s opinions on the war — and those laid out in this book — lead to the downfall of his career under his own name, the end of his friendships with H.L. Mencken and Theodore Dreiser, and his subsequent mental breakdown.
8vo, 222pp, burgundy cloth boards. Spine crumpled, wear to board edges, small nick to back board fore edge. Back board curved, bruise to lower edge. Contemporary ownership signature to first free endpaper. Some pencil underlines and annotations, including note on first endpaper following index. Good condition.
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