Laymen beware, but curious and disciplined readers will find a useful examination of propaganda’s pervasiveness.
An academic analysis of the ways in which propaganda still functions and influences ideology in contemporary society.
The concept of propaganda seems to be an anachronism. Or, as Stanley (Philosophy/Yale Univ.; Know How, 2011, etc.) puts it, propaganda is typically reserved for historical thinking about totalitarian and fascist regimes—e.g., the Nazis or Stalinist Russia. However, this thinking is dangerous precisely because it removes propaganda from a contemporary context, thereby allowing it to infiltrate discourse unnoticed. Moreover, the concept of propaganda functioning within a democratic society is especially tricky since the very idea of democracy is at odds with an environment that could allow propaganda. Stanley astutely identifies the conundrum of democracy and propaganda: “Democracy is a system of self-rule that is supposed to maximize liberty. Freedom of speech, especially public political speech, cannot be restricted in a democracy. But the unrestricted use of propaganda is a serious threat to democracy.” The author’s analysis of propaganda within a democratic political system is scholarly but vital, as he dismantles this erroneous preconception step by step, from Plato to the present day. His dissections of language and social structures expose the underpinnings of how propaganda continues to dictate individual consciousness and social policy. For instance, the author painstakingly defines the terms of his analysis, creating distinctions among “supporting propaganda,” “undermining propaganda,” and “demagoguery,” to name a few. Ultimately, the damage of propaganda, as defined by Stanley, is that it creates public opinion that is “radically misaligned” with national policy, all for the political or financial gain of the minority exploiting the flawed ideology of democratic society, however sincerely or insincerely. Citing examples ranging from historical racism in America to Citizens United, Stanley’s critique of propaganda and ideology will only prove more influential as public and political opinion is further polarized.
Laymen beware, but curious and disciplined readers will find a useful examination of propaganda’s pervasiveness.Pub Date: June 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-691-16442-7
Page Count: 376
Publisher: Princeton Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
For Howard Zinn, long-time civil rights and anti-war activist, history and ideology have a lot in common. Since he thinks that everything is in someone's interest, the historian—Zinn posits—has to figure out whose interests he or she is defining/defending/reconstructing (hence one of his previous books, The Politics of History). Zinn has no doubts about where he stands in this "people's history": "it is a history disrespectful of governments and respectful of people's movements of resistance." So what we get here, instead of the usual survey of wars, presidents, and institutions, is a survey of the usual rebellions, strikes, and protest movements. Zinn starts out by depicting the arrival of Columbus in North America from the standpoint of the Indians (which amounts to their standpoint as constructed from the observations of the Europeans); and, after easily establishing the cultural disharmony that ensued, he goes on to the importation of slaves into the colonies. Add the laborers and indentured servants that followed, plus women and later immigrants, and you have Zinn's amorphous constituency. To hear Zinn tell it, all anyone did in America at any time was to oppress or be oppressed; and so he obscures as much as his hated mainstream historical foes do—only in Zinn's case there is that absurd presumption that virtually everything that came to pass was the work of ruling-class planning: this amounts to one great indictment for conspiracy. Despite surface similarities, this is not a social history, since we get no sense of the fabric of life. Instead of negating the one-sided histories he detests, Zinn has merely reversed the image; the distortion remains.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1979
ISBN: 0061965588
Page Count: 772
Publisher: Harper & Row
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1979
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The value of this book is the context it provides, in a style aimed at a concerned citizenry rather than fellow academics,...
A provocative analysis of the parallels between Donald Trump’s ascent and the fall of other democracies.
Following the last presidential election, Levitsky (Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America, 2003, etc.) and Ziblatt (Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy, 2017, etc.), both professors of government at Harvard, wrote an op-ed column titled, “Is Donald Trump a Threat to Democracy?” The answer here is a resounding yes, though, as in that column, the authors underscore their belief that the crisis extends well beyond the power won by an outsider whom they consider a demagogue and a liar. “Donald Trump may have accelerated the process, but he didn’t cause it,” they write of the politics-as-warfare mentality. “The weakening of our democratic norms is rooted in extreme partisan polarization—one that extends beyond policy differences into an existential conflict over race and culture.” The authors fault the Republican establishment for failing to stand up to Trump, even if that meant electing his opponent, and they seem almost wistfully nostalgic for the days when power brokers in smoke-filled rooms kept candidacies restricted to a club whose members knew how to play by the rules. Those supporting the candidacy of Bernie Sanders might take as much issue with their prescriptions as Trump followers will. However, the comparisons they draw to how democratic populism paved the way toward tyranny in Peru, Venezuela, Chile, and elsewhere are chilling. Among the warning signs they highlight are the Republican Senate’s refusal to consider Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee as well as Trump’s demonization of political opponents, minorities, and the media. As disturbing as they find the dismantling of Democratic safeguards, Levitsky and Ziblatt suggest that “a broad opposition coalition would have important benefits,” though such a coalition would strike some as a move to the center, a return to politics as usual, and even a pragmatic betrayal of principles.
The value of this book is the context it provides, in a style aimed at a concerned citizenry rather than fellow academics, rather than in the consensus it is not likely to build.Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-6293-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
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