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Title details for Stories are Weapons by Annalee Newitz - Available

Stories are Weapons

Psychological Warfare and the American Mind

by Annalee Newitz
Alexandra Cohler
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
In Stories Are Weapons, Annalee Newitz traces the way disinformation, propaganda, and violent threats have evolved from military weapons deployed against foreign adversaries into tools in domestic culture wars. Newitz delves into America's deep-rooted history with psychological operations, beginning with Benjamin Franklin's Revolutionary War–era fake newspaper and nineteenth-century wars on Indigenous nations, and reaching its apotheosis with the Cold War and twenty-first-century influence campaigns online. America's secret weapon has long been coercive storytelling. And there's a reason for that: operatives who shaped modern psychological warfare drew on their experiences as science fiction writers and in the advertising industry.
Now, through a weapons-transfer program long unacknowledged, psyops have found their way into the hands of culture warriors, transforming democratic debates into toxic wars over American identity. Newitz zeroes in on conflicts over race and intelligence, school board fights over LGBT students, and campaigns against feminist viewpoints, revealing how, in each case, specific groups of Americans are singled out and treated as enemies of the state. Crucially, Newitz delivers a powerful counternarrative, speaking with the researchers and activists who are outlining a pathway to achieving psychological disarmament and cultural peace.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    June 18, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781696616218
      • File size: 202620 KB
      • Duration: 07:02:07

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Alexandra Cohler has the right tone, tempo, and style for this polemical and highly informed audiobook. She can sound like she's reporting on a real-life scene or immersed in a sci-fi setting. Her narrative approach works well with this provocative work by journalist/science fiction novelist Newitz, who challenges preconceived notions about messages and messaging. The subject is propaganda: its practitioners, its roots, its uses and misuses. The central figures include Edward Bernays, the public relations pioneer who was Freud's nephew. He used the techniques Freud developed to heal people, as well as to persuade women to smoke. He also persuaded the CIA to invade Guatemala to help United Fruit, his client. This is an idea-rich listen. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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