THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2025 79 rather to “provide a sense of belonging” in an unstable world. He then shows how Delmer subverted Nazi ideology by drawing attention to its failure to make good on its promise of a common purpose and shared identity. The heart of the book is Pomerantsev’s deft retelling of Delmer’s crowning achievement, the persona of “der Chef,” a fictional renegade Wehrmacht officer whose “secret” radio broadcasts from the British countryside were aimed at weary and demoralized German soldiers and civilians. By routinely (and profanely) calling attention to inconsistencies in Nazi ideology and the behavior of its leadership, der Chef credibly undermined both. Pomerantsev cites Delmer’s ability to tap into and build on his audience’s resentment and alienation, finding innovative and unexpected ways to subvert Nazi propaganda. By magnifying the distortions and inequities embedded in the regime’s rhetoric, he created an exploitable gap between the German people and its Nazi leadership. Pomerantsev urges contemporary information warriors to do the same, that is, to find new and different ways to assess, engage, and motivate vulnerable audiences. At the same time, reflecting on contemporary Russian propaganda campaigns, Pomerantsev waxes pessimistic about our ability to create a communication environment where democracy can function. In his telling, online algorithms encourage people to seek association with like-minded believers who prioritize their deepest fears and offer a shared sense of purpose. The penetration and subversion of these closed communities of belief remains elusive. While Seeing Red and How to Win an Information War both focus on a fixed time period and an established set of actors, the eighth edition of Propaganda and Persuasion (with a new author, Nancy Snow) provides an encyclopedic overview of and introduction to the nature of propaganda—what it is, how its use has evolved over time, and how to analyze its effects. Although designed and marketed as a student textbook, it has much to offer all those who seek a more in-depth understanding of how and why propaganda works. The authors define propaganda at the outset as an “asymmetrical form of communication” that favors the propagandist. Persuasion, meanwhile, is a “symmetrical exchange” of information between “persuader and persuadee.” The entire volume turns on an understanding of propaganda as an imbalance of power between source and target. Chock-full of examples, the book provides tactical analyses and case studies drawn from a broad cross section of disciplines—including history, political science, media studies, sociology, and psychology. Propaganda and Persuasion also handily summarizes multiple theoretical treatments of propaganda and tracks important historical shifts in approaches to its classification. Chapters 1 and 4 offer detailed reviews of, respectively, conceptual and research approaches to propaganda and persuasion. Chapter 2 examines propaganda from the Greeks to the American Civil War, while chapter 3 takes the modern “institutionalization” of propaganda through the digital age. Subsequent chapters weave back and forth between analyses of psychological warfare and weaponized propaganda; propaganda analytics and techniques; institutional and campaign structures; and audience identification and response, effects, and evaluation. The four case studies in chapter 7 are especially noteworthy. They provide actual examples of targeted influence campaigns, illustrating diverse applications of propaganda techniques. The studies analyze sources and actors, targeted audiences, strategies deployed, and attempts made to counter campaign impacts. Unfortunately, while this is arguably the most comprehensive single study of propaganda available today, Propaganda and Persuasion is often difficult to follow. Many of the important concepts and definitions are repeated across multiple chapters. A handbook, by definition, should be easily navigable, but this one requires quite a bit of spadework to arrive at its genuinely useful insights and explanations. As all three books tell us, there is no definitive corrective to the enduring presence—and power—of propaganda and disinformation. However, unlike much of the current literature on information manipulation and targeted influence campaigns, these books do not, thankfully, succumb to handwringing. Instead, each of them offers fact-based, contextualized approaches to defining propaganda’s Unlike much of the current literature on information manipulation and targeted influence campaigns, these books do not, thankfully, succumb to handwringing.
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