Jo Fox (Durham)
Belligerent nations went to considerable lengths to trace, document, and contain rumours. Rumour-mongering was universally denounced as a pathological, destructive condition that threatened the war effort. This lecture will argue that, on the contrary, rumour is an inherently human behaviour that offers an insight into complex human behaviours, motivations, and mentalities at times of crisis.
Jo Fox is Professor of Modern History at Durham University. She specializes in the history of propaganda in the twentieth century. Her publications include Film Propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany: World War II Cinema (2007) and (with David Welch) Justifying War: Propaganda, Politics and the Modern Age (2012). Her present research focuses on rumour in the First and Second World Wars.