Techniques of Propaganda and Persuasion

Techniques of Propaganda and Persuasion isn't so much about manipulating others as it is about protecting yourself from being manipulated. You may not believe it, but there are large corporations and governments who have a vested interest in launching covert assaults on your mind. They attempt to circumvent your normal logic and sensibilities. And, they're agenda is quite simple; to get you and your thoughts in line so that they can control you and profit from your gullibility. They accomplish this task through various techniques including false logic or false claims backed by a body of presumed know-it-alls. In many cases, propaganda and persuasion can be used to do good. This can happen when the task to be completed is one that benefits all, however sometimes these tactics are used to benefit only a selfish few. It is necessary, therefore, to prepare yourself to discern between credible and incredible sources and to recognize false claims when they are delivered to you, and this my friend, is the perfect place to begin your education.

Read this and you'll understand the manipulation by the modern day leftist American media....President BHO was a master at this, as he is a Marxist who lived by Alinsky's Rules for Radicals--a Marxist propaganda book. I was an Army officer in Vietnam involved in interviewing defectors and using the information for intelligence and for broadcasting/leaflet drops to the enemy in the jungle and the civilian populations in the hamlets. I studied all forms of propaganda.

The first part of the book just tells you about various types of propaganda and seemed straight forward. In the second part, I started having some issues with some of the reasoning used to support certain arguments. Then on page 111, the book says, “... the war efforts of World War I and Workd War II also required the enlistment of military personnel. US armed forces were made up entirely of volunteers at that time...” I finished the chapter and reread the section multiple times to see if the author clarified this claim, but the author did not. I just couldn’t take the book seriously after this major factual error and stopped reading it.

Propaganda was indeed the buzzword du jour during the Second World War. The very word propaganda was originally used in 1622 in Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, an ambitious initiative fostered to spread Catholicism; the brainchild of Pope Gregory XV. Over time propaganda acquired negative connotations. Propaganda, however, shouldn't remain stigmatized. Like every other philosophical notion, it remains neutral as long as we allow it to be.Magedah E. Shabo wrote phenomenal book using remarkably succinct style appealing to both sophisticated readers, scholars, and novices. Well divided structure fosters intellectual digestion. Clearly explained and analyzed historical examples show different facets of propaganda.

This book is rather thin. I read it in one setting. If using it for a lesson plan you could make 5-10 one hour lessons from it (about a week or two), or perhaps just skim over it in an hour, depending on how much discussion, side projects etc. along with the depth to be covered. The book is very basic in its explanations. It also uses world war 2 propaganda posters almost exclusively. I don't know if this was because they were easy public domain examples or what. I do find Nazi propaganda posters interesting (they also used American posters of the same era), but I thought the examples were a little incomplete. Why not show some examples of ads for soap or something?It covers some methods on basic levels, and shows some really good WWII era posters as examples. Yet for an adult reader, it lacks depth. It is well written if you take it as a school book for a middle school student or maybe a low level high school student (perhaps 9th grade or something). Yet beyond that I wasn't satisfied with it. The cover is misleading. It looks like it might have something deep in it.I am interested more in how people are being manipulated by every day propaganda and how to use propaganda in advertising your own products or services. I don't see any books that seem satisfying in that regards. Perhaps if they updated this book with more in depth analysis and a greater variety of ad examples it might do a good job of that, but at its current level its just too basic.

For those who are looking for an intro to historical as well as modern propaganda, this book is well worth the money. Excellent short explanations on numerous techniques with many propaganda posters from the last hundred years, as well as helpful end of chapter questions. I would call this one of those eye opening books that I find simply invaluable.

Understand why are you doing things.

Sorry, but this book is weak. The content pretty much boils down to propaganda means getting people to react emotionally rather than logically. And the author's coverage of human emotions in question is extremely superficial and simplistic. There could have been many more compelling ways to handle this topic.I will give the author points for digging up some classic propaganda examples from the past. Those were interesting (even though the descriptions and analysis of them often seemed to strain to make a point.)I really think this book was a student project. The publishers page lists the writer and "reviewing teachers." The premise was thin. Analysis was weak. Examples were good! C-