How to Win an Information War

The riveting story of a World War II broadcaster’s campaign to counter Nazi propaganda, told alongside the author’s own quest to confront the disinformation fueling Russia’s war on Ukraine

“[An] addictive page-turner.” —Lawfare

A Times (UK) Best Book of the Year

In the summer of 1941, Britain and its allies were struggling to combat Hitler’s powerful propaganda machine, which boasted of his inevitable victory and smeared his enemies as liars. British claims to the contrary had little impact—except for the broadcasts of Der Chef, a German who questioned the Nazi Party. Der Chef galvanized Hitler’s opponents across the globe with damning intel on high-ranking Nazi officials and rumors of internal rebellion. Yet all the while, he was a fictional persona created by the British propagandist Sefton “Tom” Delmer.

As Peter Pomerantsev tells Delmer’s pulse-pounding story, he finds himself pulled into a wartime propaganda effort of his own. Following Russia’s invasion of his native Ukraine, Pomerantsev looks to Delmer to understand how to combat disinformation, manipulate the passions of supporters and enemies alike, and turn the tide of an information war.