Reading Under Fire: Arming Minds & Hearts During Wartime at Poster House

Poster House, the first museum in the United States dedicated to the global history of posters, will present four new exhibitions for the spring 2026 season. The two main exhibitions, Reading Under Fire: Arming Minds & Hearts During Wartime and From Monarchy to Modernity: Travel, Identity, & the Czechoslovak First Republic (1918–1938), will open to the public on April 23, 2026 and close on November 1, 2026.

Reading Under Fire examines how books and the act of reading itself were mobilized to sustain morale among soldiers during World Wars I and II. As foot soldiers were required to carry all of their possessions, compact and portable forms of entertainment became essential. Books offered mental escape and comfort amid prolonged periods of waiting, fear and isolation on the front lines of the European theater.

The exhibition features book-related posters from the United States, Great Britain, Canada and Germany, all produced during both world wars. These nations relied heavily on public donations and fundraising campaigns to supply troops with reading material, and posters played a central role in mobilizing civilian support. While many promoted escapist fiction, others encouraged educational reading to help soldiers prepare for promotion, postwar employment or their eventual return to civilian life.

By World War II, books had also come to symbolize democratic values and intellectual freedom, predominantly for the Allied forces. Through these posters, the exhibition reveals how reading, previously considered a leisure activity, was framed as a psychological and ideological weapon during wartime.