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Even the most casual fan of Star Wars understands that out of the struggles between might and right rise heroes and villains.

But who the hero is, of course, often a matter of perspective.

A new oversized, slipcased Star Wars book titled Star Wars Propaganda captures more than 50 pieces of "persuasive art" designed to influence those caught in the galaxy-wide conflicts. From the Trade Federation's posters exhorting citizens to move to new planets of opportunity in the Outer Rim, to anti-cloning stickers, to a (maybe) pro-Empire campaign that insists that "Endor is a lie. Believe it at your peril," these pieces of propaganda span different time periods and viewpoints ranging from just before Episode I to the aftermath of Episode VII.

While the ten frame-ready prints that also come with the book are cool, the real cherry on top for me is the clever in-world text that accompanies each piece of art in the book and sets it within historical context. For example, one piece of anti-Jedi propaganda created at the beginning of the Clone Wars with the tag line "Deliver Us from Jedi Evil" includes the commentary, "Anti-Jedi sentiment was more a product of their cultural absence rather than a refutation of anything substantive. Separatist worlds that had experienced lawlessness attributed that to Jedi neglect, a failure of policing. Indeed, the war itself was a failure of the peacekeepers."

The author of the text is a former pro-Empire artist who cautions his readers in the introduction, "Art reflects the conflict at hand, and in turn, may spur the next one. The artist becomes an instrument of conflict, even if he or she rejects the conflict itself."

There's thoughtful stuff in here, folks, and the artwork is terrific. Like a number of other books that Lucasfilm has created as in-world artifacts from our favorite fictional galaxy, Star Wars Propaganda evokes an electrifying delight.

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Star Wars Propaganda

Pablo Hidalgo

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