Second World War British Military Camouflage: Designing Deception

by Isla Forsyth

Overview

Second World War British Military Camouflage offers an original approach to the cultures and geographies of military conflict, through a study of the history of camouflage. Isla Forsyth narrates the scientific biography of Dr Hugh Cott (1900-1987), eminent zoologist and artist turned camoufleur, and entwines this with the lives of other camouflage practitioners, to trace the sites of camouflage's developments. Moving through the scientists' fieldsite, the committee boardroom, the military training site and the soldiers' battlefield, this book uncovers the history of this ambiguous military invention, and subverts a long-dominant narrative of camouflage as solely a protective technology. This study demonstrates that, as camouflage transformed battlefields into unsettling theatres of war, there were lasting consequences not only for military technology and knowledge, but also for the ethics of battle and the individuals enrolled in this process.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474222617
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	03/09/2017
Series:	War, Culture and Society
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	969 KB

About the Author

Isla Forsyth is Assistant Professor in Cultural and Historical Geography at the University of Nottingham, UK.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations

Introduction: A Genealogy of Camouflage
1. Dazzling and Disrupting Conflict
2. Hiding in Plain Sight
3. The Politics of Position
4. Tricksters Transformed to Soldiers
5. Fleurs on the Offensive
Conclusion: Afterlives

Notes
References

Editorial Reviews

Of books on World War II camouflage, Isla Forsyth's is among the most engaging. Its lasting contribution comes from her keen observations of the interplay between art, science and technology, as well as her revelations about the pivotal achievements of Scottish zoologist, scientific illustrator, photographer, and British Army camoufleur Hugh B. Cott. Forsyth's book is an important and welcome addition to the ongoing worldwide discussion about the art and science of camouflage-and surveillance.
Roy R. Behrens, Professor of Art and Distinguished Scholar, University of Northern Iowa, USA

This absorbing account shows the development of camouflage to have been contingent on people, on technologies and on places. Drawing on extensive archival research, Isla Forsyth presents a new history of camouflage which reveals much about this intriguing and innovative technology.
Rachel Woodward, Professor of Human Geography, Newcastle University, UK

From the Publisher