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 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.

• The Collected Poems of Bertolt Brecht
• Towards a Philosophy of Photography
• Bertolt Brecht: A Literary Life (Biography and Autobiography)
• Dear Cyborgs: A Novel
• Otaku: Japan's Database Animals
• Brecht Collected Plays: 2: Man Equals Man; Elephant Calf; Threepenny Opera; Mahagonny; Seven Deadly Sins (World Classics)
• Bertolt Brecht's Me-ti: Book of Interventions in the Flow of Things
• Brecht Collected Plays: 1: Baal; Drums in the Night; In the Jungle of Cities; Life of Edward II of England; & 5 One Act Plays (World Classics)
• Collected Short Stories of Bertolt Brecht