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“Bernays’ honest and practical manual provides much insight into some of the most powerful and influential institutions of contemporary industrial state capitalist democracies.”—Noam Chomsky
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.”—Edward Bernays, Propaganda
A seminal and controversial figure in the history of political thought and public relations, Edward Bernays (1891–1995), pioneered the scientific technique of shaping and manipulating public opinion, which he famously dubbed “engineering of consent.” During World War I, he was an integral part of the U.S. Committee on Public Information (CPI), a powerful propaganda apparatus that was mobilized to package, advertise and sell the war to the American people as one that would “Make the World Safe for Democracy.” The CPI would become the blueprint in which marketing strategies for future wars would be based upon.
Bernays applied the techniques he had learned in the CPI and, incorporating some of the ideas of Walter Lipmann, became an outspoken proponent of propaganda as a tool for democratic and corporate manipulation of the population. His 1928 bombshell Propaganda lays out his eerily prescient vision for using propaganda to regiment the collective mind in a variety of areas, including government, politics, art, science and education. To read this book today is to frightfully comprehend what our contemporary institutions of government and business have become in regards to organized manipulation of the masses.
This is the first reprint of Propaganda in over 30 years and features an introduction by Mark Crispin Miller, author of The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book is proof that there is no such thing as free will,
By Justin "JD" (Kelowna, BC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Propaganda (Paperback)
This book is a must read for any human that feels that they are free thinking individuals. Propoganda takes you into inside of the mind of a man that invented modern day propoganda and public relations. Edward Bernays is the cousin of Sigmund Freuid and he created the progoganda machine in World War 1 as well as working for the American Tobacco company and General Electric. This brilliant mind also invented the practice of using floride in the water. This books takes the reader on a journey through a world in which we know very little about. We live in the matrix and Edward Bernays gives us the truth no matter how hard it is to believe.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Order Out of Chaos,
By
This review is from: Propaganda (Paperback)
Edward Bernays took the ideas on the behaviour and control of crowds as developed by Gustave Le Bon (The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind) and to a lesser extent Wilfred Trotter (Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War), combined them with the work of his uncle, Sigmund Freud, and created the science (or is it art?) of public relations. Bernays helped sway American public opinion in favour of entry into World War I by encouraging his fellow countrymen that they needed to "make the world safe for democracy", he removed the taboo on women smoking in public and he helped topple a democratically elected government in Guatemala. Not bad for one man!This book is an apologia for propaganda itself. Bernays begins and ends with a justification of propaganda as a means to bring order out of the chaos of modern mass democracy; he doesn't trust the crowd, the masses, but their beliefs, values and behaviour can be "regimented" by the public relations expert. Whether we're buying a car, choosing our toothpaste or choosing our political leaders, the acolytes of Bernays' pioneering work in the manipulation of public opinion will be there, working in the background, setting the true agenda. No wonder Joseph Goebbels was one of Edward Bernays' biggest fans.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brief, brilliant, and indispensable,
By
This review is from: Propaganda (Paperback)
Books that tell the truth, without succumbing to cant or mystification, are extremely rare. In the economic and political realms, where power is at stake, such book are rarer still. One such jewel is Machiavelli's "The Prince". Another is Edward Bernays' "Propaganda".On the economic front, Bernays tells us that "Mass production is profitable only if its rhythm can be maintained ... The result is that while, under ... production that was typical a century ago, demand created the supply, today supply must actively seek to create its corresponding demand." (p. 84) On the political front, he says that, "... in almost every act of our daily lives ... we are dominated by a relatively small number of people ... who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind ... ." (p. 37f) In both cases he is absolutely correct, thereby providing us with greater insight than is available in all the standard texts on economics and political science. The introduction, by NYU media studies professor Mark Crispin Miller, is lucid and scholarly. I highly recommend this book.
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