Brainwashed

A frankly brilliant book -- Kathryn Hughes * The Guardian *
Daniel Pick has done the most wonderful, engaging and compelling job in tracing the roots of this particular strain of post-war anxiety in all it's forms, from totalitarian tyrannies and espionage, right up to today's fears of fake news and ubiquitous algorithms. And [he] has terrific range: whether discussing the delicacy of democracy or psychiatric hospitals, Pick's account is mesmerising and generous, [leaving] you continually wondering about your own power to resist. -- Sinclair McKay * Mail on Sunday *
Dizzyingly fluent ... a reminder that, in the matter of thinking for ourselves, cages come in all sizes and shapes -- Anthony Cummins * The Observer *
Daniel Pick has here taken a great step toward answering a great preoccupation of the twentieth century -- Professor Eli Zaretsky, The New School for Social Research and author of Secrets of The Soul: A Social and Cultural History of Psychoanalysis
In this absorbing exploration of "brainwashing" ... [Pick] does not stumble ... he looks for the strands that connect the totalitarian crushing of dissent to the subtler forms of influence and mythologisation in the democratic world. As a guide to historical and topical lessons of psychoanalysis - witness his writings on Nazism, modern warfare, and dreams - Daniel Pick has few rivals, and is always worth reading -- Matthew D’Ancona * Tortoise *
Mixing insights from his practice as a psychoanalyst, Daniel Pick takes us on a gripping ride through the history and makes us ponder how, in a digital economy that moves ever faster, we can ever think for ourselves. A thought-provoking must read. -- Professor Lyndall Roper, Oxford University
An extraordinarily engrossing and wide-ranging analysis of a word and a concept. I fell under its spell immediately -- Simon Garfield
Lively ... stimulating [and] hugely entertaining ... a clarion call for better ways of thinking and better politics -- David Aaronvitch * The Times *
Daniel Pick's new book is a fascinating exploration of brainwashing, advertising and other mind manipulations. Focusing on the second half of the 20th century but bringing the story right up to date with a penetrating consideration of recent conspiracy theories, it is absorbing, accessible, scholarly and of profound contemporary importance -- Stephen Frosh, Professor of Psychology at Birkbeck College
A great preoccupation of the twentieth century was the suspicion that our minds were being manipulated through hypnotism, advertising, fake news, brain washing and the like. Importantly, this suspicion arose in democratic as well as totalitarian societies. Where did it come from and why has it been so hard to shake? Daniel Pick, who is both a psychoanalyst and an historian, has here taken a great step toward answering this question. -- Eli Zaretsky, author of Secrets of the Soul: A Social and Cultural History of Psychoanalysis and Professor of History at The New School for Social Research
Daniel Pick takes us on a gripping ride through the history of fears of brainwashing that date from the 1950s and its links to ideals of anti-communism and personal freedom. But as he shows, 'coercive influence' is alive and well today, one of the major challenges we now face. Mixing insights from his practice as a psychoanalyst, this thought-provoking book makes us ponder how, in a digital economy that moves ever faster, we can ever think for ourselves. A must read. -- Lyndal Roper, Professor of History, Oxford University
Fabulous - both brilliant as history and penetrating about the present -- Lisa Appignanesi, Royal Society of Literature
A guide to the frightening place where the science of the mind and the politics of paranoia come together -- Vassili Christodoulou * How To Academy *
Praise for Daniel Pick's previous books -- :
Daniel Pick is an intelligent, thoughtful, well-read psychoanalyst who is always worth reading. His 2012 book, The Pursuit of the Nazi Mind, has an honoured place on my bookshelves. -- David Aaronvitch * The Times *
Pick scrupulously examines the scientific background to Garibaldi's obsession ... stimulating, often ingenious approach ... a clever and illuminating study * Independent on Sunday *
Tremendous ... Pick tells the story of Garibaldi's failed Tiber venture with flair, mingling psychological speculation with biography and history * Sunday Telegraph *
A fascinating dissection of a slice of European history * Economist *
A fascinating exploration * Daily Telegraph *
Richly absorbing, perceptive, often funny and moving * Literary Review *
Intelligent, discriminating, subtle, dispassionate, sensitive to context, and to nuance ... provides the indispensable perspective for further discussion and reasoned argument * Times Literary Supplement *