Preface: A change in the landscape -- War encounters mass communication : 1850-1914 -- Mass communication enlists : 1914-1918 -- The democracies try to demobilize : 1919-1939 -- Dictators conquer their media : 1919-1939 -- The battle for the mind deepens : 1939-1945 -- Symbolic war takes precedence : 1945-1991 -- Mass communication becomes multipolar : 1991 and after.