Brainwashed (Hardback)
A New History of Thought Control
Buy from
A brilliant and mind-bending exploration of brainwashing and thought control
'A frankly brilliant book' The Guardian
'This book will make you think differently about our world' - FT
'An extraordinarily engrossing and wide-ranging analysis of a word and a concept. I fell under its spell immediately' Simon Garfield
In 1953, a group of prisoners of war who had fought against the communist invasion of South Korea were released. They chose - apparently freely - to move to Mao's China. Among those refusing repatriation were twenty-one American GIs. Their decision sparked alarm in the West: why didn't they want to come home? What was going on?
Soon, people were saying that the POWs' had been 'brainwashed'. Was this something new or a phenomenon that has been around for centuries? The belief that it is possible to marshal scientific knowledge to govern someone's mind gained enormous attention. In an era of Cold War paranoia and experimentation on 'altered states', the idea of brainwashing flourished, appearing in everything from critiques of CIA research on LSD to warnings of corporate groupthink, from visions of automaton assassins to conspiracy theories about 'global elites'. Today, brainwashing is almost taken for granted - built into our psychological and political language, rooted in the way we think about minds and societies. How did we get to this point - and why?
Psychoanalyst and historian Daniel Pick delves into the mysterious world of brainwashing in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, from The Manchurian Candidate to ISIS, TV advertising to online algorithms. Mixing fascinating case studies with historical and psychological insights, Brainwashed is a stimulating journey into the mysteries of thought control.
Brainwashed (Ebook)
A New History of Thought Control
Buy from
A brilliant and mind-bending exploration of brainwashing and thought control
'A frankly brilliant book' - GUARDIAN
'An absorbing exploration ... Pick does not stumble' - TORTOISE
'An extraordinarily engrossing and wide-ranging analysis of a word and a concept. I fell under its spell immediately' - SIMON GARFIELD
In 1953, a group of prisoners of war who had fought against the communist invasion of South Korea were released. They chose - apparently freely - to move to Mao's China. Among those refusing repatriation were twenty-one American GIs. Their decision sparked alarm in the West: why didn't they want to come home? What was going on?
Soon, people were saying that the POWs' had been 'brainwashed'. Was this something new or a phenomenon that has been around for centuries? The belief that it is possible to marshal scientific knowledge to govern someone's mind gained enormous attention. In an era of Cold War paranoia and experimentation on 'altered states', the idea of brainwashing flourished, appearing in everything from critiques of CIA research on LSD to warnings of corporate groupthink, from visions of automaton assassins to conspiracy theories about 'global elites'. Today, brainwashing is almost taken for granted - built into our psychological and political language, rooted in the way we think about minds and societies. How did we get to this point - and why?
Psychoanalyst and historian Daniel Pick delves into the mysterious world of brainwashing in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, from The Manchurian Candidate to ISIS, TV advertising to online algorithms. Mixing fascinating case studies with historical and psychological insights, Brainwashed is a stimulating journey into the mysteries of thought control.
Brainwashed (Paperback)
A New History of Thought Control
Buy from
A brilliant and mind-bending exploration of brainwashing and thought control
'A frankly brilliant book' - GUARDIAN
'An absorbing exploration ... Pick does not stumble' - TORTOISE
'An extraordinarily engrossing and wide-ranging analysis of a word and a concept. I fell under its spell immediately' - SIMON GARFIELD
In 1953, a group of prisoners of war who had fought against the communist invasion of South Korea were released. They chose - apparently freely - to move to Mao's China. Among those refusing repatriation were twenty-one American GIs. Their decision sparked alarm in the West: why didn't they want to come home? What was going on?
Soon, people were saying that the POWs' had been 'brainwashed'. Was this something new or a phenomenon that has been around for centuries? The belief that it is possible to marshal scientific knowledge to govern someone's mind gained enormous attention. In an era of Cold War paranoia and experimentation on 'altered states', the idea of brainwashing flourished, appearing in everything from critiques of CIA research on LSD to warnings of corporate groupthink, from visions of automaton assassins to conspiracy theories about 'global elites'. Today, brainwashing is almost taken for granted - built into our psychological and political language, rooted in the way we think about minds and societies. How did we get to this point - and why?
Psychoanalyst and historian Daniel Pick delves into the mysterious world of brainwashing in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, from The Manchurian Candidate to ISIS, TV advertising to online algorithms. Mixing fascinating case studies with historical and psychological insights, Brainwashed is a stimulating journey into the mysteries of thought control.
Reviews for Brainwashed
Kathryn Hughes The Guardian
Sinclair McKay Mail on Sunday
Anthony Cummins The Observer
Professor Eli Zaretsky, The New School for Social Research and author of Secrets of The Soul: A Social and Cultural History of Psychoanalysis
Matthew D’Ancona Tortoise
Professor Lyndall Roper, Oxford University
Simon Garfield
David Aaronvitch The Times
Stephen Frosh, Professor of Psychology at Birkbeck College
Eli Zaretsky, author of Secrets of the Soul: A Social and Cultural History of Psychoanalysis and Professor of History at The New School for Social Research
Lyndal Roper, Professor of History, Oxford University
Lisa Appignanesi, Royal Society of Literature
Vassili Christodoulou How To Academy
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David Aaronvitch The Times
Independent on Sunday
Sunday Telegraph
Economist
Daily Telegraph
Literary Review
Times Literary Supplement