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Title: Information War: American Propaganda, Free Speech, and Opinion Control Since 9/11 by Nancy Snow ISBN: 1-58322-557-9 Publisher: Seven Stories Press Pub. Date: February, 2004 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Understanding the times
Comment: I recommend the book to everyone who in any way wants to understand the times we are living it. "Information War" gives a great insight into the ways information is dealt today. If there is one thing missing in today's culture it is the ability to see through the quantity of media and information. And this book really cuts through the jungle. In the end it even offers an alternative. Very empowering, well written and full of dry humor in the observations about media and politics in the 21st century USA.
Rating: 5
Summary: Revitalize your BS meter...
Comment: ...with this timely and useful tome. Though small in size, it's Brobdingnagian in its depth. Professor Snow provides an excellent overview of today's proaganda and how it works. The writing is clear and accessible without being either 'dumbed down' or scholastic to the point of being windy. We're getting drowned daily in information; sorting through it all to get what we need to make informed decisions is not getting easier. Information War is a great asset to solving this.
John Ford, Public Affairs Producer/Host, KAOS-fm, Olympia WA
Rating: 5
Summary: Remarkably informative, incisive and persuasive
Comment: "Information War" by Nancy Snow is a brilliant and biting critique of the Bush administration's use of propaganda to promote its war on terror. Throughout, Dr. Snow's subject matter expertise fuses perfectly with her sense of moral clarity to produce a work that is remarkably informative, incisive and persuasive.
Dr. Snow has worked in academia for over ten years. She is an in-demand lecturer and commentator and has written other books and numerous papers. Importantly, Dr. Snow has served in the USIA, a propaganda agency within the U.S. government, providing the author with inside knowledge about how the U.S. propaganda machine works. Through her education and life experiences, Dr. Snow appears to be on her way to becoming a noteworthy and influential critic who, in my view, might be compared with the likes of Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn.
The foreward is by star investigative journalist Greg Palast, who explains that propaganda is necessary to achieve thought control in a democratic society. Mr. Palast states that today's crop of U.S. spin masters are most interested in projecting American military and commercial power in pursuit of corporate objectives. Mr. Palast writes that the image of "armed and dangerous refugees from corporate boards" who have gained control of America presents a frightening picture to everyone concerned about the consequences of unrestrained and corrupt power.
Dr. Snow beings by arguing that the increasing concentration of media ownership stifles dissent and allows the powerful to define the public interest. The author documents the close ties between intelligence agencies and the media to show how the Pentagon increasingly defines what gets reported. Combined with a compliant media that is more interested in generating advertising revenues than meaningful debate, the declining state of critical journalism as described by the author is not surprising.
Dr. Snow compares propagandists past and present to show how discourse can often be manipulated in the pusuit of specific objectives. For example, Dr. Snow shows how George Creel's campaign to convince the public to enter World War I bears similarities to Charlotte Beer's Madison Avenue-style "branding" campaign of America during the Afghanistan War. The author says that the goal in both cases was to "convince the American people...that this war was a fight over ideas and values more than a fight over land, people and resources." Ultimately, Dr. Snow explains that Ms. Beer's efforts were ineffective because the rhetoric of her ill-conceived advertising campaign clashed badly with the reality of America's role as a "violent international aggressor."
One of my favorite sections was Dr. Snow's delicious skewering of William Bennett, one of the most pompous of all propagandists. The author deftly uses Mr. Bennett's own work against him, arguing that the suffocating intolerance displayed in his book "Why We Fight" clearly illustrates why dissent is critical to maintaining a free and open society.
A few courageous citizens who have spoken truth to power are profiled in the book. These include publisher Janis Besler Heaphy, who was shouted down at a college graduation ceremony for advocating sustained public vigilance of government action; Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who cast the lone vote against Bush's manifesto to wage an open-ended war against terrorism; and author Howard Zinn, whose work for peace has inspired many. Through these and other examples, Dr. Snow highlights the critical role that individuals can play to protect our collective rights.
On the other hand, Dr. Snow believes that the Bush administration's unilateralism and use of preemption will not lead to a better world. Dr. Snow argues that the so-called "Arab Street" (another pejorative and propagandistic term) is angry with the U.S. because of very specific policies and not because of our core values, as is often alleged. However, defining the conflict in simplistic terms enhances the effectiveness of the propaganda and marginalizes anti-war critics. In fact, Dr. Snow reminds us that many of the words spoken by prominent figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr., who sometimes railed against U.S. imperialism and war, have long ago been forgotten in corporate news archives.
Instead of being passive recipients, Dr. Snow encourages her readers to actively seek alternative media and to critique and respond to biased news reporting. She recommends that we work to change our government's policies and spend more time listening to others in order to achieve harmony with the world. I found Dr. Snow's common-sense and humane suggestions to be a welcome antidote to the angry and propaganda-soaked material that is usually found on mainstream media.
I strongly encourage everyone to read this inspirational, informative and empowering book.
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Title: Propaganda, Inc.: Selling America's Culture to the World (Open Media Series) by Nancy Snow ISBN: 1583225390 Publisher: Seven Stories Press Pub. Date: 22 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq by Sheldon Rampton, John Stauber ISBN: 1585422762 Publisher: Jeremy P. Tarcher Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance (The American Empire Project) by Noam Chomsky ISBN: 0805074007 Publisher: Metropolitan Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: The New Media Monopoly by Ben H. Bagdikian ISBN: 0807061875 Publisher: Beacon Press Pub. Date: 15 May, 2004 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: Munitions of the Mind : A History of Propaganda, Third Edition by Philip M. Taylor ISBN: 0719067677 Publisher: Manchester University Press Pub. Date: 15 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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