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THE INSTABILITY OF TRUTH

Rebecca Lemov

Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyper-Persuasion

an acclaimed historian of science uncovers the history of brainwashing and its troubling implications for today.
Because brainwashing affects both the world and our observation of the world, we often cannot recognize it while it's happening unless we know where to look. In The Instability of Truth, Rebecca Lemov exposes the myriad ways our minds can be controlled against our will, exploring the history of brainwashing techniques from those employed against POWs in North Korea to the "soft" brainwashing of social media doomscrolling and behavior-shaping.

Lemov reveals that anyone can fall victim to mind control, especially in our increasingly data-driven world, and identifies invasive forms of emotional engineering that exploit trauma and addiction to create coercion and persuasion in everyday life. Offering lessons learned from mind-control episodes past and present, Lemov equips us for the increasing challenges we face from social media, AI, and an unprecedented, global form of surveillance capitalism.

Rebecca Lemov is a historian of science at Harvard University and has been a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute. Her research explores data, technology, and the history of human and behavioral sciences. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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Published 2025-03-25 by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. - New York (USA)

Comments

502 // The Unstable Truth w/ Rebecca Lemov Read more...

From the Korean War to Facebook, this riveting volume tracks the history of systems built to bend our wills and rewire our minds. Timely, frightening, and impossible to put down.

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Thoughtful [and] well-supported.

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1321 Dr Rebecca Lemov / The Instability of Truth Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyper-Persuasion Read more...

Sensitively written... will leave readers puzzling over how much we resist, submit to, or even desire to be 'done over' by external influences. Read more...

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Complex Chinese: Sunrise Press Japanese: Daiwa Shobo

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[A] provocative and illuminating look at how powerful ideas can overwhelm one's better instincts. Read more...

Rebecca Lemov. brilliantly chronicles chillingly true attempts to program other people's minds and control their actions.

Tracking moments of mind control from techniques of political conversion in war camps to the suasions of religious cult groups, the airwave appeals of mass influence to the emotional experiments of recent social media and the charms of astrological cryptocurrency communities, Rebecca Lemov reveals the tantalizing historical through line of brainwashing. Its truth always just out of reach, it nonetheless asserts itself over us and implicates us in its dynamics.

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A chilling and spellbinding history of mind control, from prison camps to online algorithms.

A superbly crafted analysis of a universally deplored but seemingly irresistible technique. Read more...