While I was researching for last week's posts about Fembots and Brainwashing, I came across a book on Amazon that might be of interest to Spy Vibers. There are no reviews yet and the prize is a bit high, so you may want to try inter-library loan to check it out. Info from Amazon:
Brainwashing: The Fictions of Mind Control: A Study of Novels and Films Since World War II by David Seed (2004/325 pages)
Product Description
An examination of the literary and cinematic representations of brainwashing during the Cold War era. The term "brainwashing" coined during the Korean War, was popularized by a CIA operative who was a tireless campaigner against communism. it took hold quickly and became a means to articulate fears of totalitarian tendencies in American life. David Seed traces the assimilation of the notion of brainwashing into science fiction, political commentary, and conspiracy narratives of the Cold War era. He demonstrates how these works grew out of a context of political and socail events and how they express the anxieties of the time. This study reviews 1950s science fiction, Korean War fiction, and the film The Manchurian Candidate. Seed provides new interpretations of writers such as Orwell and Burroughs within the history of psychological manipulation for political purposes, using declassified and other documents to contextualise the material. he explores the shifting view points of how brainwashing is represented, changing from an external threat to American values to an internal threat against individual American liberties by the U.S. government. Anyone with an interest in science fiction, popular culture, or the Cold War will welcome this study.
About the Author
David Seed is professor of American literature at Liverpool University in England. He has published on a wide variety of literary subjects and established the first British Master's program in science fiction. He is currently the series editor for Science Fiction texts and Studies, published by the Liverpool University press.
