Propaganda through the ages. Introduction

This special issue around the concept of propaganda from past to present stretches from the Middle Ages to the 21st century and encompasses a wide range of text-types including poems, pamphlets, dictionaries, biographies, newspapers, social media and advertising. The broad temporal scope helps shed light on aspects of continuity and change in the management and control of information in relation to two major variables: the historical and socio-cultural context of text production and reception and the important technological innovations, particularly the advent of print and the internet. This introduction intends to provide an overview of the major forms of propaganda across different historical periods focusing on the text-types exploited as vehicles for persuading the masses on crucial religious, political, social and health issues.