During the 1930s Europe was convulsed by political violence. The National Socialists rose to power in Germany and Fascists campaigned in Britain, Spain and France. Yet Europe was also transformed in this decade through new applications of film, photography and radio. Newsreels were enhanced by sound and photojournals proliferated. In fact, these political and technological developmets were closely intertwined. The Image of the Popular Front demonstrates this by tracing the history of the Popular Front in France; at once a popular movement, a political coalition and a government. The Front was fragile: one of the first mass movements to take advantage of the new forms of photojournalism which had emerged at the end of the 1920s, its leaders exploited mass media to maintain a relationship between their supporters on the streets and the politicians in parliament. As such, this coalition provides an excellent opportunity to analyse the political functions of the press and press photography.