Peace and Power in Cold War Britain explores the ban the bomb and anti Vietnam War movements from the perspective of media history focusing in particular on the relationship between radicalism and the rise of television In doing so it addresses two questions both of which seem to recur with each major breakthrough in communications what do advances in communications media mean for democratic participation in politics and how do distinctive types of media condition the very nature of that participation itself In answering these the book views the ban the bomb and anti Vietnam War movements in relation to communication power and media discourse It highlights how these movements intersected with parts of public life that were being transformed by television themselves shaping struggles for social change among activists and public intellectuals on the streets in the Labour Party and in the law courts The significance of this relationship between media and movements was complex and wide ranging Christopher R Hill demonstrates that it contributed to the enrichment of democracy in Cold War Britain with radicals serving to innovate and pioneer creative forms of political expression from both in and outside of media organisations However the movements increasingly succumbed to news coverage and values that revolved around human interest and violence feeding into the revolutionary spectacle of 1968 and the turn towards identity politics Peace and Power in Cold War Britain Media Movements and Democracy c.1945 68