Propaganda Course

Hint: It would be a very good idea to get started on your reading

Some of you have indicated that you'd like to start reading before the semester begins. This is a good idea. The course is full and the reading assignments are rather robust.

If you do not master the readings, you will not pass the final exam.

That's not propaganda. It's just a fact.

While I don't publish the syllabus online, the following required books must be read in their entirety: Berman, Borkenau, Choate, Ellul, Lasswell, Linebarger and Smith. I recommend starting with Smith, Lasswell, Linebarger or Ellul.

The full listing of required readings is here.

For the faint of heart, there is still time to withdraw from the course, as other students are on a waiting list.

Required readings

Below is the official list of required readings for this course. This list supersedes all others. All required books should be available on reserve at the IWP library. If you cannot locate the book there, request that the IWP librarian acquire additional copies, or seek the librarian's assistance to borrow the book from another library. The professor has provided links to online booksellers as a convenience. Students are responsible for reading all the assigned books, even if those books are difficult to find. A PDF version of the Smith book is available below.

Other readings will be provided as links or PDFs through this website.

The required books are:

• John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt, eds., Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime and Militancy (Santa Monica and Washington: RAND Corporation, 2001). [Note: This book can be downloaded at no charge as .pdf documents from the RAND website at: http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1382.]
• Larry Berman, Perfect Spy: The Incredible Double Life of Pham Xuan An, Time Magazine Reporter and Vietnamese Communist Agent (Smithsonian Books, 2007). Read entire book.
• Franz Borkenau, World Communism: A History of the Communist International (New York: Norton, 1939; reprinted by University of Michigan Press, 1962; Ann Arbor Paperbacks, 1963). Read entire book.
• Pat Choate, Agents of Influence: How Japan Manipulates America’s Political and Economic System (New York: Touchstone, 1991). Read entire book.
• Jacques Ellul, Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes (New York: Knopf, 1966; Random House, 1973). Read entire book.
• Edward Jay Epstein, Deception (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989). Sections will be assigned.
• Anatoly Golitsyn, New Lies for Old: The Communist Strategy of Deception and Disinformation (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1984).Sections will be assigned.
• Harold D. Lasswell, Propaganda Technique in World War I (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1971). Read entire book.
• Paul M. A. Linebarger, Psychological Warfare (WWII Era Reprint) (Originally published 1948; reprinted by Coachwhip 2010). Read entire book.
• Paul A. Smith, Jr., On Political War (Washington: National Defense University Press, 1989). Read entire book. Download a free PDF copy here: Download Smith - On Political War
• Sun Tzu, The Art of War trans. Samuel B. Griffith (London: Oxford University Press, 1971). Read entire book.
• Nigel West, ed., British Security Coordination: The Secret History of British Intelligence in the Americas, 1940-1945 (Diane Pub., 1998). [Note: This text is hard to find and often very expensive. We will not be using the entire book, so if you are on a budget, plan to borrow a copy from the library.]