Image Worlds: Corporate Identities at General Electric, 1890–1930 by David E. Nye (review)

126 Shorter Book Reviews Anglo-American rivalry persisted in the post-war years, though the Soviet threat certainly enforced a degree of co-operation, as did mutual interests. Unfortunately , one exponent of that view, Richard -Ullman, makes the questionable assertion that the United States "called NATO into being as a means of rearming West Germany.'' That, he contends, was an example of American leadership in defining the response to the Russian challenge. Ullman blithely ignores the "Canadian crusade" as well as Bevin's commitment to Western Union in early 1948-both before the United States was committed to defend Western Europe in peacetime. These authors generally agree with Lord Beloff' s earlier depiction of the '' special relationship'' as an '' Anglo-American myth.'' More controversial is Beloff's contention herein that the United States contributed to the dissolution of the British Empire and thereby to international instability. Apparently, the late Hedley Bull particularly objected to Beloff's lament about the American failure to fill the void left by ''the catastrophe of decolonization.'' The debate on this topic, notably the contributions by Wm. Roger Louis and Lord Saint Brides (who also offers a blunt critique of Nehru's policy on China), provides one of many examples of the strength of thisremarkable collection. Britain's Ditchley Foundation and the Woodrow WilsonCenter for Scholars, merit praise for co-sponsoring the five conferences which resulted in this excellent volume. Even when the material is familiar-for instance, the essays by Margaret Gowing on nuclear weapons, Roderick MacFarquhar on China and Richard Gardiner and Stephen Marris on international economics-that does not detract from the value of the articles. These are informed, critical accounts by distinguished scholars, critics, soldiers and statesmen. They deserve a wide audience. Unfortunately, the high price ($96.25 in Canada-another curious calculation by Oxford University Press) will certainly deter individuals and possibly institutions from its purchase. Regrettably, there seem to be no plans yet for a paperback edition. Hector M. Mackenzie Department of History University of Western Ontario. David E. Nye. Image Worlds: Corporate Identities at General Electric, 1890-1930. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1985. xiv + 188 pp. Illus. Business corporations produce images as well as products. General Electric, the first U.S. corporation tocreate an in-house apparatus to publicize itself, turned out over 10,000 photographs annuallyby the turn of the century; in 1923, a full-time photography staff of twenty was able to generate 13,000 negatives and I .3 million prints. Where did this fieldof commercial photography come from? How did GE Shorter Book Reviews 127 make use of it? Who were the audiences for the products of a more sophisticated photo technology and an expanding market in image production? How does one study the business corporation as a processor of symbols as well as of goods? David Nye takes a multi-disciplinary approach to these interesting questions as he speculates on the meaning of the more than one million photographs he discovered in the General Electric Photographic Archives. And the result, despite the author's periodic lapses into obscurity on the esoterics of linguistics and communications theory, is well worth the attention of students of modem American culture. According to Nye, GE photographers created different classes of photographic images to legitimize the corporation for different audiences both inside and outside the finn. It was an incremental process: relevant audiences came into view as the firm increased in size and product range. By the 1920s, engineers, blue collar workers and middle managers had all come to require specialized treatment within the firm, while consumers and voters required continuous cultivation in the community at large. As a result, different classes of images, each with their own photographic conventions, emerged to serve different audiences and markets. For example, a photograph appropriate for the General Electric Review, begun in 1903, and aimed at an engineering audience, was not necessarily suitable for the Work News, established in 1917 for blue collar workers; or for the Monogram, an in-house publication for middle management founded in 1923. Photographs for an engineering clientele projected the corporation as an educational and scientific institution, while community themes dominated Work News photos, as the corporation sought...