THE MIND MANAGERS

by Herbert I. Schiller ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 10, 1973

A rambling, wide-eyed survey of the manipulation, secrecy and distortion of public communications. Professor Schiller attacks various legitimate but obvious targets from Walt Disney and TV Guide to the Defense Department's PR expenditures and the skewed character of polls. Do we really need to be told that ""Exhortations to buy assail everyone from every possible direction""? The book fails to dig into the newspaper business and the publishing industry. As for television, Schiller's leanings toward conspiracy theory emerge. True, the ""immediacy"" of television prevents full understanding, but does it follow that ""immediacy"" is a ""manipulative device""? If so, we need to know more about how it works than Schiller tells us. Agreed, ""Elite control requires omission and distortion of reality""; agreed, the information system sets values. But aren't our values and sense of reality shaped by the institutions we have, communications cabals notwithstanding? The book was written before the Watergate worms were uncanned; indeed, its main example of political manipulation is the way Americans in the late '40's were foxed into thinking Russia aggressive -- as though he had just discovered the Military-Industrial Complex, while such '70's trends as populist imagery, self-mocking advertising, and disingenuous ecological appeals remain untouched. A good-hearted but simplistic effort.

Pub Date: Oct. 10, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Beacon

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1973

Categories: NONFICTION