In 1834, Lord Melbourne spoke the words that epitomized the British government's attitude towards its own involvement in the arts: ""God help the minister that meddles with Art."" One hundred years later, however, with the onset of World War II, that attitude changed dramatically when ""cultural policy"" became a key element of the domestic front. The Arts as a Weapon of War traces the evolution of this policy from the creation of the Committee for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, in 1939, to the drafting of the Arts Council's constitution in 1945. From the improvement of the...