The Instability of Truth: Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyper-Persuasion

by Rebecca Lemov

An acclaimed historian of science uncovers the history of brainwashing—and its troubling implications for today.

Because brainwashing affects both the world and our observation of the world, we often cannot recognize it while it’s happening—unless we know where to look. In The Instability of Truth, Rebecca Lemov exposes the myriad ways our minds can be controlled against our will, exploring the history of brainwashing techniques from those employed against POWs in North Korea to the “soft” brainwashing of social media doomscrolling and behavior-shaping.

Lemov reveals that anyone can fall victim to mind control, especially in our increasingly data-driven world, and identifies invasive forms of emotional engineering that exploit trauma and addiction to create coercion and persuasion in everyday life. Offering lessons learned from mind-control episodes past and present, Lemov equips us for the increasing challenges we face from social media, AI, and an unprecedented, global form of surveillance capitalism.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Science, History, Politics, Audiobook, Female Authors

464 pages, Hardcover

Published March 25, 2025

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning of the novel focuses heavily on historical beliefs surrounding brainwashing, as well as the accuracy of those beliefs and practices. It's interesting to learn about. It also includes information about its use during modern history. The historical information seems well researched, and is explained well.
The book feels significantly dryer when tying back to the modern day with cryptocurrency. Comparisons are made between cryptocurrency and cargo cults, which is interesting and pretty apt. How technological advances and social media operate on similar base ideas to historical brainwashing is fascinating.
The book functions well in explaining how brainwashing and hyperpersuasion operate in the modern day, as well as how that came to be. Definitely a fascinating read!

[Vicki C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Information rich but meandering/disorganized.

[Rhea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting and alarming. A bit too much info crammed in at certain points. There were whole chapters that I felt could be their own book.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very useful if perhaps too wide-ranging look at the way truth can be manipulated to influence and control people.

Feels like the contemporary implications are less explored than they could be, while the historical pieces may be over articulated.

[Samantha DesLauriers · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

[Jeni Ferret · Rating 3 out of 5]

What began as a very interesting chronicle of mind control and its effect on humanity quickly became a repetitive and nonsensical collection of scenarios over the last century where humans or individuals have acted unpredictably. She misses several large CIA operations that study mind control directly, ie. MKULTRA and Chaos, as well as midnight climax. She brings in cryptocurrency and cargo cults for some obscure reason I’m still trying to wrap my head around, and the conclusion is anything but. If only the second half of the book was as enthralling and well researched as the beginning, it would have been a fascinating read.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not to brag, but it only took me four months to finish reading this book.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nobody knows how to turn a human being into an automaton who will mechanically carry out the wishes of a controller. That kind of brainwashing has never been real, and hopefully it will never become possible, but we do manage to do other kinds of "mind control" under the general heading of "brainwashing" that are almost as bad. This book starts with the indoctrination and reeducation programs that were used on US POWs in the Korean War. It was effective enough to get a number of the captives to make voluntary statements against the US and to get 23 of them to freely choose to stay in Korea after the war. Certainly, this wasn't the first instance of mind control or coercive persuasion. The Nazis and Bolsheviks were both good at it and many religious groups going back to the beginning of time have practiced forms of mind control. But the concept of "brainwashing" first gained currency with Korea, so it's as good a place to start as any. After Korea, Ms. Lemov goes on to discuss to the anti-brainwash training programs of the US military, the MK Ultra program of the US intelligence services, the Manson family, religious cults, and Patty Hearst, which all involve different forms of "coercive persuasion." There are common techniques among most of these, including sleep deprivation, super long indoctrination sessions, and getting the target to make a statement admitting some transgression and/or supporting their captors. Many, perhaps most, people are worn down over time. It's not surprising that people subjected to this kind of program almost all have symptoms of PTSD. But because victims are brought around to voluntary participation, it isn't easy to find the place to draw the line between free participation and coercion.

The discussion at the end of techniques used by social media companies to persuade and manipulate behavior felt a little out of place to me. It's a big problem and is a cousin of brainwashing, but there are material differences, so I'm inclined to think that lumping them together doesn't help much in understanding or solving either problem.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you still were trying to cling to the idea that evil originates outside humanity, this book should obliterate that hope. Not a happy read, particularly at this point in history.

That declarative statement of mine above is as closed to further consideration as I found many within this book. The author appears in my opinion to want to write the only book required on this topic; all conclusions already developed and drawn so one need simply to read and believe.

Slightly ironic (or intentional?) given the author’s topic is brainwashing.

When I slip into this know-it-all behavior myself, I label it “The world according to…” in an intentional effort to break out of the thinking pattern.

The book moves through interesting, often disturbing, examples of people’s thinking and actions being influenced by others (significantly? strongly? to the point in which the individuals are no longer responsible for their behaviors?)

As I worked my way through the book, I was reminded of a sensationalist omniscience found in my limited reading of true crime fiction. Scholarly research and impartial journalism of important topics seem to me to give way to dramatic license to appeal to readers drawn to that genre.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really interesting challenge to the assumption, among religious scholars especially, that "brainwashing" is mythological. Lemov argues that brainwashing is real but has been misunderstood because it's a response to traumatic experiences rather than some sort of cheat code to rewire someone's brain and force them to do things they otherwise wouldn't, or couldn't, do. This is really helpful, though I wonder if it risks redefining the term so broadly that almost anything could be considered brainwashing, especially when Lemov begins discussing hypersuasion through social media. After all, most (if not all) humans have experienced trauma, so are we all brainwashed to some extent?

I also struggled with the organization and overall writing style of the book; it feels disorganized and the last couple of chapters especially don't seem to connect as strongly to the book's thesis as it might have. But overall, lots of food for thought here, and definitely worth the read.

[Linda Sivertsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whoa. This is just the kind of mix of sociology, psychology, and history that I find compelling—the author has clearly spent the necessary time over two decades in archives seemingly left unplundered. The book manages to be both personal in its manner (and wit) while avoiding the over-generalizing of pop psychology. Even though some of the stories are dark, the book is a deeply enjoyable read. I just watched Rebecca—the author and Harvard professor—on a 3-hour episode of Joe Rogan's podcast. It was heartening to see so many glowing comments about her humility, likability, intelligence, and trustworthiness. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that much unanimous praise on a show, all reflecting the best in people.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book approaches brainwashing/mind control through a diverse set of examples (Korean War POWs, Patty Hearst's kidnapping, Leonard Kille's brain implant, the John Frum cargo cult, crypto astrology), all of which are fascinating in their own respects. my primary takeaways really have more to do with these than the overarching points about brainwashing. maybe I'm making a jump here, but Mao's discussion-criticism-unity method definitely seems to have some modern parallels. I'm not particularly interested in cults (if you've heard the story of one cult, you've pretty much heard them all), but the initiation process and concept of deprogramming could also be likened to other human relationships, though on a much different scale.

[Alyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not entirely what it seems. It is divided into 3 sections: The Korean War POWS, cults, and crypto currency for some reason. I had really hoped for more of a book about mass persuasion but that may be my fault. The writing is not unpleasant to read, but the author seems to have a resentment toward a particular scientist. The first 300 pages are just self-indulgent insults and jabs about him weaved in to seemingly irrelevant tangents. Needless to say, I got a little irritated at all the insults and peer-bashing. It seems like almost nobody she wrote about was left unscathed. I felt like I was reading the first 3 columns of her Fourth Step. All that being said, this book is more of a case-study in one on one brainwashing and the writing is nice and not boring or overly wordy.

[Michaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book grabbed me immediately, starting with prisoners during the Korean War and continuing through CIA experiments, cults, and social media. The ending, about the present and future, was less confident and coherent than the beginning. Earlier in the book she made some illusions to Neuralink, which I thought she would return to, but she instead closed with somewhat niche topics like cryptocurrency communities and cargo cults.

A pattern she noted is that when organizations (the CIA, Facebook) receive negative publicity from unethical persuasion tactics, they are more likely to obscure than discontinue them.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well researched and written book and I can tell the author really knows her stuff. Most of the book is a history of the idea of brainwashing and how it came to be a term used in the medical community and how it has changed the cultural vocabulary.

She creates a throughline from the earliest use of the term in Korean POWs, to current cults and other cultish ideas.

Overall, this was a very interesting read and I have a much better understanding of the changes we as a society have gone through to get to our current views on PTSD and other traumas and abuse. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in those topics.

[shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great read, very scholastic yet with a personal voice, about the history of brainwashing and propaganda. I recently read Chaos by Tom O'Neill, and this follows up on the more interesting threads in that book. This book kept me riveted and makes me question many of the truths presented daily to me.

[Jim Witkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 - I wanted to like this, but ultimately I found it frustrating. I guess going back to Korean prisoners of war and 1970’s cults made some sense historically, but when she finally caught up to more modern examples with social media she veered off topic into crypto cults and cargo cults during World War Two. Just wondered around too much for me.

[Carrie Zwack · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were tiny bits of insight here and there that I enjoyed, and the historical information was interesting but I found the writing not to my style and difficult to follow and found it to be poorly organized and never quite making clear any points or opinions. Much preferred her interview on A Little Bit Culty podcast.

[Katie Dolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very well-researched and thoroughly educational read. Very academic and dense, there's a lot to chew on here, particularly when Lemov astutely points out that this isn't a new moment we find ourselves in even if the tools have shifted.

[david lampe · Rating 4 out of 5]

very insightful starting w korean prisoners of war brainwashing to military training to protect and prepare serviceman to same. Further comparisons to religious cults, bitcoin, and internet facebook likes contribute to how we relate to ourselves and others.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book after hearing the author on a podcast. I enjoyed the book but felt it went on a bit too long in certain areas. Maybe from a scientific perspective, that is/was necessary. All in all, if interested in the subject, worth the time to read.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come...

[Steven Ridgely · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting.

[Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting history, though some may find it somewhat dry.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting in parts.

[Letha · Rating 5 out of 5]

So well-researched and certainly well-written, but truly grim given the state and trajectory of all things, so it took me a long while to slog through it. That said, we should all read it.

[Reema Khadre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting and well researched book. I’d love to read a part 2 where she delves more into modern day instances of brainwashing with the internet and politics.

[Lizzie Brackett · Rating 4 out of 5]

timely….

[ms.petra · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*
In our increasingly digital and curated world, it is easy to be manipulated, brainwashed, influenced.
We are all susceptible.

[Delanee]

DNF @ Page 151 — This isn’t the book’s fault by any means. I’m just in a reading slump right now and this is incredibly research heavy, so it’s not working for me 🫠