Propaganda

By: Edward Bernays, Mark Crispin Miller - introduction

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

"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)

A seminal and controversial figure in the history of political thought and public relations, Edward Bernays pioneered the scientific technique of shaping and manipulating public opinion, which he famously dubbed the "engineering of consent". During World War I, he was an integral part of the US Committee on Public Information, or 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 became the blueprint for the marketing strategies of future wars.

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 listen to this book today is to frightfully comprehend what our contemporary institutions of government and business have become in regard to the organized manipulation of the masses.

©1928 Edward Bernays (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

SKIP THE INTRODUCTION

I would recommend that you skip the introduction; it is filled with spoilers and is more of a book review in content. Go to Chapter 2 to start the book.
Propaganda is incredible interesting and straight forward.

😧 wow! This seems very relevant!!

What did I just listen to? Did he just give us ‘the playbook’? Who is this guy, Bernays, other than ‘the father of public relations’? How much did he selectively disclose to us, and how much did he knowingly withholding? Did he foresee the media monopoly we currently have controlling us? I will be doing further research on this and re-listening to this one for sure!!

Manipulation 101

Definitely a dive into the Manipulation of the minds of the masses and how much care and consideration is payed to the endeavor! Our entire lives have been carefully constructed so we can become obedient sheep led to slaughter by our psychopathic shepherds!

This Classic is still very relevant.

Learning how Propaganda works is so important for dealing with all the information being thrown at us today. This book will help you understand and manage it very well.

Excellent lesson in mass psychology.

This book bestows a terrific insight into the crucial mechanisms that mold the perception of the masses. This classic work is worthy of serious study and just may change the way you perceive the world around you.

pay closest to tension to the preface of this book

this book is a valuable learning tool so long as the reader does not merely accept the words of the author at their face value. The reality is that the entire book is itself propaganda for the use of more propaganda, and the author had an enormous financial interest in having others perceive his work as valuable. this gives an interesting insight as to methodologies that are still effective today, as well as interesting mental impressions of the self-proclaimed propagandist. I would be wearing of any moral claims made in this book because Mr Bernays was not a particularly moral person, in fact you willingly aided in the overthrow of governments.

Skip the first chapter

The first chapter ironically is propaganda berating the writer and telling you what to think about the book before hearing the ideas and it tells you not eat bacon because it's out of date propagating the myth of saturated fat being bad for you.

Overrated

The way Noam Chomsky talks about this book, you'd think it was a rosetta stone to mass mind control. It turns out to be a collection of vague and unproven assertions about human malleability.

Not what I expected; ironically

Truthfully, I only listened to the first half and I’m guilty of judging a book by its cover and being a willing victim of the propaganda of that cover. It’s an older book that seems to be discussing propaganda (not surprisingly) and modern day marketing and advertising methods and their history. I assumed incorrectly that it might also deal with the modern propaganda moment of the BLM movement and the effect of the new would be tyrants of our age clothed in the vestiges of virtue signaling. Unfortunately, its a less dynamic book than that. My bad

Netflix Founder is author’s nephew

Interesting read. The founder of Netflix is the nephew of Edward Bernays and the great nephew of Sigmund Freud

Great read/listen, very interesting

The book was a bit dated on what I needed it for, but interesting and informative nonetheless.

Groups and leaders, and how they affect us

Overall strong, although biased for propaganda leaders. About groups and leaders, and how they can affect us.

Things change over time

It's interesting how concepts, like the word propaganda, can change so much over time. listening to this book gives you a view of what it meant 100 years ago, a bit different from today.

Dry, Dull and Uninformative

Nothing but textbook readings of the types of propaganda and some rather underwhelming historical uses.

Book is from 1928 not 2017

It's a good book that covers the basics but a little too theoretical for me and with outdated references. Still rather interesting but I thought it'd be a little more relevant as the page states released in 2017

very important book

this was a great book although outdated in the social media age it still remains very interesting you can adopt the ages for a modern age

Dull

Sadly out of date. Quaint, twee, and but no longer any use to anyone but history philes

informative

Very informative. Equally relevant for todays world, with very clear chapter's as a reference to all aspects of public life.

good start but gets a bit drawn out toward the end

loved the start of this book... very clear and precise explanations of his "art" that are at the same time fascinating and unnerving.

but towards the latter chapters, it gets a bit too detail oriented