xennicole's Reviews (2.27k)

I forget that Nordic Gods are petty.

Wordy, long and could have edited the author's personal thoughts at the beginning and the end of each chapter and his long-winded descriptions of tactics. His goal was to focus on propaganda in liberal (rights) democratic (equality) society, but the book veered off mostly to the linguistics of liberal democratic politics which in itself the only form of propaganda that occurs in a society that claims to be rights and the equality of its people.

Ideologies are full with loaded wth words/rhetoric that connotes biases but are not slurs. There is a whole part of politics about words like "welfare," "illegal immigrant," vs. "undocumented immigrant," and how to use those words within ideologies. With these loaded words come ideas that are flawed, but the beliefs are real even standing in front of the evidence to prove the flaw ideologies flawed. Then comes down to personal beliefs and not wanting to look bad and keeping the ideas that are obviously wrong, but out of principle and the cycle of propaganda continues.

I read this right after reading How Propaganda Works and this book is more efficient on the few pages it discusses propaganda in the 128 pages than the previous book. It never mentions 45's name, only referring to the president and the actions that he has done and using the twentieth century as an example of what could happen next.

20 Lessons to remember for the people to follow when faced with a leader what doesn't care about the people who is he suppose to be the voice of a nation but instead caring only about how he looks like the head of the free world.

Quick and easy read. Surprisingly uplifting in hopes that the greater good will prevail.

I got this books from Netgalley in return for an honest review. I was disappointed. It took forever for me to read it and today I just decided to plow through it because there were some interesting parts and towards the end, I just started skimming for those parts. It was hard to get into the story because it was so unbelievable that I couldn't suspend belief to make it work. A young American coming to Bulgaria to teach English accidently gets a bag with an urn full of ashes, and she decides to find the owner on day one in a new country. No. Then she willingly jumps in a cab with a guy that knows things that most taxi drivers wouldn't know and continues to be with him for days trying to find this family. No.

There were some beautiful passages and descriptions, but I couldn't believe the main story. The secondary story which was flashbacks of the deceased's urn she is trying to return was interesting but only started in the middle of the novel. Usually Kostova novels I finish within a few days, but this book will and 21 days.

Excellent book on the Constitution, Court Cases and the First Amendment. It was an easy read and the author does a great job explaining without bogging down with too many ideas. Recommend for anyone.