Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes

A foundational analysis of propaganda by the French philosopher Jacques Ellul, who treats it as a permanent condition of technological society and not as an occasional wartime tool.

Ellul approaches propaganda through both psychology and sociology. He sorts its techniques into categories, traces how modern technology carries them through a population, and argues that propaganda is a threat to democratic life. Vintage issued the English-language paperback on 12 January 1973. The Los Angeles Times called it a presentation of propaganda as the most serious threat to humanity in the modern world, and Kirkus Reviews described the analysis as brilliant, thoroughgoing and frightening.

Ellul (1912-1994) taught at the University of Bordeaux and was involved in the French Resistance during the Second World War. He wrote widely on technology and its social effects, and the cover of this edition names The Technological Society as his earlier book. He is also described as a Christian anarchist.