Dark Persuasion

“Riveting. . . .shows how the art of dark persuasion a generation ago led . . .to today’s misinformation, cyberbullying and cultlike behavior on the Internet.” —Dina Temple-Raston, Washington Post

This gripping book traces the evolution of brainwashing from its beginnings in torture and religious conversion into the age of neuroscience and social media. When Pavlov introduced scientific approaches, his research was enthusiastically supported by Lenin and Stalin, setting the stage for major breakthroughs in tools for social, political, and religious control.

Tracing these developments through many of the past century’s major conflagrations, Dimsdale narrates how when World War II erupted, governments secretly raced to develop drugs for interrogation. Brainwashing returned to the spotlight during the Cold War in the hands of the North Koreans and Chinese. In response, a huge Manhattan Project of the Mind was established to study memory obliteration, indoctrination during sleep, and hallucinogens. Cults used the techniques as well. Nobel laureates, university academics, intelligence operatives, criminals, and clerics all populate this shattering and dark story—one that hasn’t yet ended.

“Highly readable and compelling.” —Sarah Marks, Science

“Dimsdale shows how the idea of brainwashing has been used to justify. . . .not the intricate manipulation of another person’s thoughts but simple abuse, whether conducted by the government or by the leaders of a cult.” —Jo Livingstone, New Republic

“Dimsdale is a brilliantly concise and insightful guide . . . and the book is as energetic and enjoyable as his previous one.—Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Review

“A timely, well-written book. The question of how large groups of seemingly reasonable people come to hold obviously unreasonable beliefs is one of the deepest questions of our age.” —Tanya Luhrmann, author of When God Talks Back