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Brainwash: The Secret History of Mind Control
What would it take to turn you into a suicide bomber?
How would you interrogate a member of Al Qaeda?
With access to formerly classified documentation and interviews from the CIA, the U.S. Army, MI5, MI6, and the British Intelligence Corps, acclaimed journalist Dominic Streatfeild traces the history of the world's most secret psychological procedure.
From the cold war to the height of today's war on terror, groups as dissimilar as armies, religious cults, and advertising agencies have been accused of brainwashing. But what does this mean?
Is it possible to erase memories or to implant them artificially? Do heavy-metal records contain subliminal messages? Do religious cults brainwash recruits? What were the CIA and MI6 doing with LSD in the 1950s? How far have the world's militaries really gone?
From the author of the definitive history of cocaine, Brainwash is required reading in an era of cutting-edge and often controversial interrogation practices. More than just an examination of the techniques used by the CIA, the KGB, and the Taliban, it is also a gripping, full history of the heated efforts to master the elusive, secret techniques of mind control.
How would you interrogate a member of Al Qaeda?
With access to formerly classified documentation and interviews from the CIA, the U.S. Army, MI5, MI6, and the British Intelligence Corps, acclaimed journalist Dominic Streatfeild traces the history of the world's most secret psychological procedure.
From the cold war to the height of today's war on terror, groups as dissimilar as armies, religious cults, and advertising agencies have been accused of brainwashing. But what does this mean?
Is it possible to erase memories or to implant them artificially? Do heavy-metal records contain subliminal messages? Do religious cults brainwash recruits? What were the CIA and MI6 doing with LSD in the 1950s? How far have the world's militaries really gone?
From the author of the definitive history of cocaine, Brainwash is required reading in an era of cutting-edge and often controversial interrogation practices. More than just an examination of the techniques used by the CIA, the KGB, and the Taliban, it is also a gripping, full history of the heated efforts to master the elusive, secret techniques of mind control.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published June 29, 2006
52 people are currently reading
1302 people want to read
About the author
Dominic Streatfeild
7 books27 followersDominic Streatfeild is an author, freelance journalist and documentary maker based in the UK who specialises in military and security issues.
Streatfeild studied at Kings College London, has served in the British Armed Forces, worked for the BBC and as an independent documentary maker and journalist.
Streatfeild's television work includes BBC2’s Exocet detailing MI6 and the SAS’s clandestine war for the Falkland Islands and exposing the real reasons for the loss of HMS Sheffield, the Discovery Channel’s series Age of Terror, examining the roots of political violence and a 2010 documentary for the Discovery Channel Rescued: The Chilean Mine Story detailing the attempts to rescue 33 Chilean Miners trapped in the Copiapó mine.
Streatfeild studied at Kings College London, has served in the British Armed Forces, worked for the BBC and as an independent documentary maker and journalist.
Streatfeild's television work includes BBC2’s Exocet detailing MI6 and the SAS’s clandestine war for the Falkland Islands and exposing the real reasons for the loss of HMS Sheffield, the Discovery Channel’s series Age of Terror, examining the roots of political violence and a 2010 documentary for the Discovery Channel Rescued: The Chilean Mine Story detailing the attempts to rescue 33 Chilean Miners trapped in the Copiapó mine.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
March 22, 2018
This low rating is not because this was a bad book.
On the contrary, it is well-written, well-researched, interesting, and informative.
It's just that the subject material is SO DARK.
Torture.
The CIA giving drugs to unsuspecting people.
The CIA preying on criminals and prostitutes - people who can't or won't go to the cops - and experimenting on them.
More torture.
Hypnotism.
Does heavy metal make teenagers kill people? - I think this is total bull and the author seem to agree with me.
Psychiatrists who abuse and torture their patients in the name of "science" or because they're getting funding from the CIA to do so.
Moonies and other religious cults and why so many young people convert and leave their families behind, giving all their possessions to the cult and sometimes committing mass suicide.
A whole chapter dedicated to a man who was accused (falsely) by his two daughters of raping them. A modern day witch hunt, the girls soon named 5 or so other cops (their dad was an ex-cop) and their mom in the "rapes" and "satanic rituals." The dad was put in prison for 14 years and dozens of other people's lives were ruined - their mom's, their brother's, the cops they accused.
Torture, torture, and more torture.
Did I mention torture?
The worst thing about it all, the absolute worst thing - is that all cases in this book are real, proven, and researched up the yin-yang. God, it makes me sick what human beings do to other human beings. It's just disgusting.
Now, the book is great. Like I said, interesting, well-researched, well-written - but it's about things I never wanted to know and I never want to think about.
Read only if you have a strong stomach for this kind of thing.
On the contrary, it is well-written, well-researched, interesting, and informative.
It's just that the subject material is SO DARK.
Torture.
The CIA giving drugs to unsuspecting people.
The CIA preying on criminals and prostitutes - people who can't or won't go to the cops - and experimenting on them.
More torture.
Hypnotism.
Does heavy metal make teenagers kill people? - I think this is total bull and the author seem to agree with me.
Psychiatrists who abuse and torture their patients in the name of "science" or because they're getting funding from the CIA to do so.
Moonies and other religious cults and why so many young people convert and leave their families behind, giving all their possessions to the cult and sometimes committing mass suicide.
A whole chapter dedicated to a man who was accused (falsely) by his two daughters of raping them. A modern day witch hunt, the girls soon named 5 or so other cops (their dad was an ex-cop) and their mom in the "rapes" and "satanic rituals." The dad was put in prison for 14 years and dozens of other people's lives were ruined - their mom's, their brother's, the cops they accused.
Torture, torture, and more torture.
Did I mention torture?
The worst thing about it all, the absolute worst thing - is that all cases in this book are real, proven, and researched up the yin-yang. God, it makes me sick what human beings do to other human beings. It's just disgusting.
Now, the book is great. Like I said, interesting, well-researched, well-written - but it's about things I never wanted to know and I never want to think about.
Read only if you have a strong stomach for this kind of thing.
June 1, 2008
Dominic Streatfeild has done an incredible amount of research and conducted numerous interviews with those who used the methods he writes about and also the victims of such methods.
The author does not insist on his point of view, but compares and contrasts available information and leaves the room for the readers to come up with their own conclusions.
This is a must-read book for anyone interested in the history of mind control and the current use of it in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, and elsewhere!
The author does not insist on his point of view, but compares and contrasts available information and leaves the room for the readers to come up with their own conclusions.
This is a must-read book for anyone interested in the history of mind control and the current use of it in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, and elsewhere!
Read
June 1, 2016First off, the author, Dominic Streatfeild should be commended for a very solid job of reporting. A rare skill today.
Brainwash answered for me a question * Is a Manchurian Candidate style brainwashing possible ? Where an individual is unaware of secret instructions implanted through brainwashing techniques; instruction that can be triggered by a handler in the future.
My take away from the book is no. People can be seriously temporarily & permanently messed up: confused, physiologically broken, physically -mentally-socially impaired and coerced to do things they would not ordinarily do but not secretly implanted with instructions. In most cases in this book, you could interchange the word brainwash with torture.
The authors sites some famous cases of modern brainwashing: The Russian torture of the Hungarian Catholic Church head Josef Mindscensty and American POWs in Korea to describe the process.
First stage starts with a period of solitary which allows the prisoners self doubts to work. Feeling of aloneness , abandonment, uncertainty,powerlessness and despair.
Second stages-Physical Mental and Social torture. Everything in the prisoners world that is comfortable, predictable and controllable is gone. Excess stress, not allowed to eat, changing things so there is no schedule, sensory deprivation/hooded , time uncertain of date /if it is night or day,beatings, irregular periods of sleep, incorrectly told of confessions and statements,given misinformation of family and political events, noise piped in,petty actions that annoy, verbal arguments,kept in a drugged or barely awake state, prisoner may go asleep in one outfit and wake up clothed differently, may be fed and fed again 10 minutes later, forced to stand till collapsing, force to soil oneself in front of guards,
Pavlov was a decorated Soviet scientist. Asked by Lenin to report how his conditioning theories to humans . An anecdote: a 1928 flood in St Petersburg, left dogs fighting for their lives as their basement room filled with water. This dramatic event removed their conditioning; they no longer drooled when bell was rung. Once again retrained to drool on ring of a bell but conditioning was again removed when flooding conditions were recreated. A noted English psychologist, William Sargant postulated a theory that these techniques could cause man to reverse his most personal belief.
Sensory Deprivation being hooded, being isolated and feed tapes on propaganda leads to better acceptance of propaganda. An awful section on British deep interrogation techniques on IRA suspects in the 70's. Prisoners hooded for a week straight, in an undisclosed place. Told they would be thrown from a moving helicopter while blindfolded and thrown from a three foot height.
Publicity from this event has been noted by Sinn Fien Members as overwhelmingly helping their fund raising and recruitment efforts at the time.
More to follow.....
Brainwash answered for me a question * Is a Manchurian Candidate style brainwashing possible ? Where an individual is unaware of secret instructions implanted through brainwashing techniques; instruction that can be triggered by a handler in the future.
My take away from the book is no. People can be seriously temporarily & permanently messed up: confused, physiologically broken, physically -mentally-socially impaired and coerced to do things they would not ordinarily do but not secretly implanted with instructions. In most cases in this book, you could interchange the word brainwash with torture.
The authors sites some famous cases of modern brainwashing: The Russian torture of the Hungarian Catholic Church head Josef Mindscensty and American POWs in Korea to describe the process.
First stage starts with a period of solitary which allows the prisoners self doubts to work. Feeling of aloneness , abandonment, uncertainty,powerlessness and despair.
Second stages-Physical Mental and Social torture. Everything in the prisoners world that is comfortable, predictable and controllable is gone. Excess stress, not allowed to eat, changing things so there is no schedule, sensory deprivation/hooded , time uncertain of date /if it is night or day,beatings, irregular periods of sleep, incorrectly told of confessions and statements,given misinformation of family and political events, noise piped in,petty actions that annoy, verbal arguments,kept in a drugged or barely awake state, prisoner may go asleep in one outfit and wake up clothed differently, may be fed and fed again 10 minutes later, forced to stand till collapsing, force to soil oneself in front of guards,
Pavlov was a decorated Soviet scientist. Asked by Lenin to report how his conditioning theories to humans . An anecdote: a 1928 flood in St Petersburg, left dogs fighting for their lives as their basement room filled with water. This dramatic event removed their conditioning; they no longer drooled when bell was rung. Once again retrained to drool on ring of a bell but conditioning was again removed when flooding conditions were recreated. A noted English psychologist, William Sargant postulated a theory that these techniques could cause man to reverse his most personal belief.
Sensory Deprivation being hooded, being isolated and feed tapes on propaganda leads to better acceptance of propaganda. An awful section on British deep interrogation techniques on IRA suspects in the 70's. Prisoners hooded for a week straight, in an undisclosed place. Told they would be thrown from a moving helicopter while blindfolded and thrown from a three foot height.
Publicity from this event has been noted by Sinn Fien Members as overwhelmingly helping their fund raising and recruitment efforts at the time.
More to follow.....
April 11, 2021
I won't go into too much detail in this review, but this book is fascinating and you should read it. I am going to list the most important and interesting facts at the bottom of my review for my own recollection, so if you wish to avoid spoilers (i've tagged it as containing spoilers too) then please don't read past the second brief paragraph!
In Brainwash, Dominic Streatfeild examines the history of mind control techniques and their all too frequent usage by governments and intelligence agencies around the world. These techniques have been widely criticised in the wake of the declassification of certain CIA documents in recent decades and the testimonies of witnesses and participants alike shed light on the dark history of scientific research often conducted in the name of competitive, capitalistic advancement during wartime and without ethical and moral concern for those involved.
During the height of The Cold War, it became evident to the CIA that the Soviet Union were dabbling in what they dubbed "truth drugs". This speculation would fuel decades of research, experimentation and exploitation by the agency in order to gain an upper hand and prevent the United States falling behind in a scientific race with the Eastern superpower. These projects would be known as Artichoke and MK Ultra.
Whilst this is the basis for most of Streatfeild's chapters are centred around, the subject matter of each differs greatly. William Sargant's controversial psychoanalytical techniques are a recurring theme throughout; the torture of suspected IRA members and sympathisers is used as the case study for the examination of torture techniques; the famous court case between CBS Records, Judas Priest and the families of two boys involved in a suicide pact gone wrong explores the possibility of subliminal messages in both art and advertising; but perhaps the most interesting and textually controversial chapter details a Danish robbery and murder case to do with "magnetic stroking" and the possibility of manipulating another person using ones own mind.
Russian and Yugoslavian show trials showed witnesses and defendants giving evidence as if through some form of mystical duress or coercion.
CIA projects were: MK Ultra, Project Artichoke. Drugs were given to drug addicted sanatorium patients in exchange for their participation in experimental LSD drug trials. These trials involved the spiking of drinks, LSD being piped into rooms at parties to see effects on discussion and insanely high doses being given to patients.
In Eating the Flesh of God, Maria Sabina and her local community called magic mushrooms The Little Ones that Spring Forth. They believed that they were told the truth when they ate them. These mushrooms contained the chemical Psilocybin. UK psychiatrists visited her in South America and took the drug for the first time. They published papers based on their experience without naming her. When LSD boom occured in the 1960s she was discovered, becoming a cult figure resulting in her being banished from her tribe for ruining The Little Ones That Spring Forth.
During The Troubles, the British Army used stress positions and white noise on suspected IRA members and conformists. This eventually backfired as these civilians got backing from American Irish Catholics once news of the torture programme got leaked. Edward Heath's government lost a European Court Human Rights case in Strasbourg. This resulted in an IRA recruitment drive and them using the techniques of the British army on their own prisoners of war. These torture techniques were dubbed "the five techniques".
"Magnetic stroking" was the term used during the trial of a Danish bank robber claiming that he was mind controlled by his old prison cell mate to commit murder and robbery. It was hypothesised that "lock boxes" in the mind could be constructed to hide information that even other hypnotists couldn't access. It was mentioned that the CIA documents on this strand of brainwashing were impossible to find, but that it is likely they were performing research into hypnosis throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Chapter ended in bizarre fashion, with the robber apparently admitting that everything he had said was in fact a lie and that he had framed the cellmate because he just had a "dislike" for him.
Judas Priest track "Better by You, Better than Me" was alleged to have induced two boys to commit suicide via subliminal messaging. The alleged message was "do it". During the trial, evidence was given in favour of subliminal messaging existing. For example, coca cola and popcorn sales skyrocketed in certain theatres when tiny, nanosecond clips of footage instruction audience members to buy the product were played in-between reels. The plaintiffs lost the case.
In Ravenscrag Canada there is a hospital that was once an old mansion. The doctor there was Ewen Cameron, who was friendly with William Sargant until Sargant discovered the extent of his research and experimentation. Electroshock-therapy was used in alarming fashion. "Hetero and Auto-psychic driving". Cameron believed the three things most important in treating mental illness were electricity, drugs and chemically induced sleep. He would send patients to sleep for weeks, waking them only to administer EST. They would be played positive/negative messages whilst asleep. EST a very affective method but long term effects are incredibly varied and dangerous.
Conclusion of the book is hazy. Lots of the evidence of MK Ultra and Project Artichoke was intentionally destroyed before it could be uncovered.
In Brainwash, Dominic Streatfeild examines the history of mind control techniques and their all too frequent usage by governments and intelligence agencies around the world. These techniques have been widely criticised in the wake of the declassification of certain CIA documents in recent decades and the testimonies of witnesses and participants alike shed light on the dark history of scientific research often conducted in the name of competitive, capitalistic advancement during wartime and without ethical and moral concern for those involved.
During the height of The Cold War, it became evident to the CIA that the Soviet Union were dabbling in what they dubbed "truth drugs". This speculation would fuel decades of research, experimentation and exploitation by the agency in order to gain an upper hand and prevent the United States falling behind in a scientific race with the Eastern superpower. These projects would be known as Artichoke and MK Ultra.
Whilst this is the basis for most of Streatfeild's chapters are centred around, the subject matter of each differs greatly. William Sargant's controversial psychoanalytical techniques are a recurring theme throughout; the torture of suspected IRA members and sympathisers is used as the case study for the examination of torture techniques; the famous court case between CBS Records, Judas Priest and the families of two boys involved in a suicide pact gone wrong explores the possibility of subliminal messages in both art and advertising; but perhaps the most interesting and textually controversial chapter details a Danish robbery and murder case to do with "magnetic stroking" and the possibility of manipulating another person using ones own mind.
Russian and Yugoslavian show trials showed witnesses and defendants giving evidence as if through some form of mystical duress or coercion.
CIA projects were: MK Ultra, Project Artichoke. Drugs were given to drug addicted sanatorium patients in exchange for their participation in experimental LSD drug trials. These trials involved the spiking of drinks, LSD being piped into rooms at parties to see effects on discussion and insanely high doses being given to patients.
In Eating the Flesh of God, Maria Sabina and her local community called magic mushrooms The Little Ones that Spring Forth. They believed that they were told the truth when they ate them. These mushrooms contained the chemical Psilocybin. UK psychiatrists visited her in South America and took the drug for the first time. They published papers based on their experience without naming her. When LSD boom occured in the 1960s she was discovered, becoming a cult figure resulting in her being banished from her tribe for ruining The Little Ones That Spring Forth.
During The Troubles, the British Army used stress positions and white noise on suspected IRA members and conformists. This eventually backfired as these civilians got backing from American Irish Catholics once news of the torture programme got leaked. Edward Heath's government lost a European Court Human Rights case in Strasbourg. This resulted in an IRA recruitment drive and them using the techniques of the British army on their own prisoners of war. These torture techniques were dubbed "the five techniques".
"Magnetic stroking" was the term used during the trial of a Danish bank robber claiming that he was mind controlled by his old prison cell mate to commit murder and robbery. It was hypothesised that "lock boxes" in the mind could be constructed to hide information that even other hypnotists couldn't access. It was mentioned that the CIA documents on this strand of brainwashing were impossible to find, but that it is likely they were performing research into hypnosis throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Chapter ended in bizarre fashion, with the robber apparently admitting that everything he had said was in fact a lie and that he had framed the cellmate because he just had a "dislike" for him.
Judas Priest track "Better by You, Better than Me" was alleged to have induced two boys to commit suicide via subliminal messaging. The alleged message was "do it". During the trial, evidence was given in favour of subliminal messaging existing. For example, coca cola and popcorn sales skyrocketed in certain theatres when tiny, nanosecond clips of footage instruction audience members to buy the product were played in-between reels. The plaintiffs lost the case.
In Ravenscrag Canada there is a hospital that was once an old mansion. The doctor there was Ewen Cameron, who was friendly with William Sargant until Sargant discovered the extent of his research and experimentation. Electroshock-therapy was used in alarming fashion. "Hetero and Auto-psychic driving". Cameron believed the three things most important in treating mental illness were electricity, drugs and chemically induced sleep. He would send patients to sleep for weeks, waking them only to administer EST. They would be played positive/negative messages whilst asleep. EST a very affective method but long term effects are incredibly varied and dangerous.
Conclusion of the book is hazy. Lots of the evidence of MK Ultra and Project Artichoke was intentionally destroyed before it could be uncovered.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 20, 2017
I enjoyed this book but it fucked me up.
November 13, 2021
Ostensibly about mind control in the round, this is, mostly, a rather confused if well written set of chapter-by-chapter case studies on various aspects of 'brainwashing' as well as an extended essay on interrogation with a fairly set 'rationalist' and sceptical view of most claims of mind control.
Certainly Streatfield has worked hard. He has done valuable independent research to add to his reasonably broad reading in the subject but what starts well as a history of Cold War fears about brainwashing starts to fall apart so that early promise remains unfulfilled.
It is hard to be too critical (because the work seems mostly sound) about this book yet it lacks a coherent narrative even if it has a coherent message that all the work undertaken by 'spooks' aimed at controlling our minds does not amount to hill of beans.
To a great extent, Streatfield proves his point by showing us that, time and time again, claims about the mind in society (truth serums, subliminal advertising, alleged messages in heavy metal music, cult behaviours, satanic abuse) do not stand up to much scrutiny.
But in this worthy work, where the case studies are often truly horrific and often show humanity at its most stupid as much it shows it at its most cruel, the interspersing of these tales with the 'spook' stories and history of interrogation (I prefer the term torture) adds little.
Most of the spook and drugs material is better told elsewhere although there are important new insights especially about Anglo-American 'bad psychiatry' and its links to the Western security apparat. Dr. Ewen Cameron is up there with Mengele on the 'evil doctor' lists.
But, while there is new insight into the story of Cold War evil, the book soon veers into case studies that might cause outrage and shock but are somehow not connected to make a whole. What do they tell us that is coherent - not much more than that we can be a pretty dumb and cruel species.
This has all the marks of journalistic writing . It is no surprise to find that Streatfield's main profession is as a documentary maker which lends itself precisely to his short form case study method.
Having been critical (based on expectations), we have to say that he writes well and humanely. The case studies are well reported. His judgements seem sensible. We should be horrified by these stories. And his showing how stupidity combined with lack of moral compass does harm is vital.
However, in his eagerness to demonstrate the natural scepticism of the evidence-based investigative journalist, one clearly determined to expose horrors rationally rather than emotionally, he sometimes seems not to see the wood for the trees.
He fills gaps in the data with rational extrapolation of rational expectation when an even more sceptical mind might point out that a documentary investigative journalist is scarcely going to be told everything that needs to be told.
We know how much documentation gets destroyed and we also know that sources that brief a journalist secretly will generally have an angle of some kind. If they are in office (even if not), they would have a quiet word with someone in their system on what any co-operation should achieve.
The case that mind manipulation is less than the sum of its popular cultural parts sounds at times like that determined attempt of the urban liberal intellectual to deny the existence of all conspiracies because they have been unnerved by the Protocols of the Elders of Sion fraud.
The same caution one should have in denying the possibility of conspiratorial behaviour when we know that these are sometimes, if accidentally, evidenced to rational people should apply to claims that mind control is ineffective and has been abandoned by those who rule us.
He may be looking in the wrong place since it is as convenient for those who rule us to deny socialised control of consciousness nowadays as it to deny the existence of conspiracies (of a sort). Yet he is right that interrogation has no magic bullets and is much as it was under the Inquisition.
But 'mind control' (meaning the deliberate manipulation of consciousness in the context of power relations) should not be so easily dismissed or at least should be investigated more thoroughly. After all, the vast sums being spent on psychological warfare operations require more scrutiny.
Of course, we know that ridiculous sums were spent on futile and cruel research in the Cold War and it is possible that the ridiculous sums being spent on psychological operations may be equally amoral and stupid but that is the investigation we need - not of what was but of what is.
We are in the middle of a massive global information war in which journalists are witting or unwitting combatants as much as priests or pastors in a religious war - believing themselves to be sacred, they are, in fact, players in the game and so targets.
Interrogation only happens when the manipulation of minds has failed and real war of some sort has broken out. Interrogation is the easy and material part of this game, a matter of pain and cruelty as well as fear and manipulation.
The case studies about 'spooks' and psychologists out of control - sociopaths sanctioned by a claim of existential struggle - show us 'intent', the intent to control consciousness. It is the history of this intent and its methodologies that needs its coherent history, now more than ever.
In this book, we see case after case of 'methodology' by 'bad' psychiatrists and secret warriors alongside social paranoia that sees badness where there is no badness to be seen yet we do not see much of the deep 'why' of all this except as sets of responses to specific incidents.
The deep 'why' is not the functional approach that says that such-and-such sought to get such-and-such to admit this-or-that but the question of how entire structures can exist that believe either that they can manipulate minds or are in the midst of a programme of manipulation.
It probably comes down to deep instinctive paranoia based on a fact on the ground - we cannot know other minds. Power requires that it knows the minds over which it has power. The impotent are easily led to believe that minds can be manipulated in ways that must be simple to understand.
A correct scepticism is sceptical about scepticism insofar as the urgency of power's desire to understand in order to control minds must be accepted and analysed and the fears and paranoia that lead to belief in non-existent mind control need to be understood and corrected.
Streatfield does some of what is required in exposing the absurdity and cruelty of passionate or stupid people refusing to believe that mind control is not going on or believing in too much that they have themselves unwittingly created (as in the truly shocking satanic abuse chapter).
He should get credit for exposing much. We should be horrified by the treatment of innocent Irish Catholics in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, the almost-plan for total sensory deprivation as an 'experiment' and the simple policeman destroyed by his own disturbed religious community.
But I was not persuaded that elite or state mind control has not gone beyond failed experiments to improve interrogation methods or create better agents. I may sound excessively conspiratorial to Streatfield but I suspect there is lot more to this story and that it is even darker than we think.
September 26, 2022
This was the most bizarre, worrying, baffling and interesting thing to read.
The use of brainwashing or mind control by shady government departments and military is so freaky to read about; the lengths some organisations are prepared to go to in order to get information or control a situation.
Streatfeild does a great job in bringing together all the history of not only government but corporate attempts to influence people through subliminal advertising (ISN'T THIS REVIEW AMAZING?!) and subconscious (YOU WILL LIKE THIS REVIEW) suggestion!!
A great read. Fascinating and terrifying all at the same time.
The use of brainwashing or mind control by shady government departments and military is so freaky to read about; the lengths some organisations are prepared to go to in order to get information or control a situation.
Streatfeild does a great job in bringing together all the history of not only government but corporate attempts to influence people through subliminal advertising (ISN'T THIS REVIEW AMAZING?!) and subconscious (YOU WILL LIKE THIS REVIEW) suggestion!!
A great read. Fascinating and terrifying all at the same time.
June 29, 2012
when i saw this among the bargain books, i was like, this book is really for me. i read this almost a year ago and prior to that i already had enough idea of MK-ULTRA, CIA brainwashing and all the conspiracies here in this world we live in. so the moment i took hold of Brainwash, there's no turning back. surprises me that even the music industry mind control was included in the book.
Brainwash is a very interesting, entertaining book. especially for those interested in conspiracies and whatnot. the stories are amazing. lots of parts are definitely disturbing-- sensory deprivation, electric shock, subliminalism, etc. the effects are horrifying.
Streatfeild is a critical journalist.
i'm still hoping for more though. say, what about this Lady Gaga brainwashed theory, and other famous artists allegedly victims of mind control. also topics like Bill Clinton and Barbara Bush under hypnoses. those are more recent brainwash theories.
nevertheless, truly, this book opens your eyes and put things in perspective to the reality of the world we live in. this is a wake-up call. like a slap-in-your-face eye-opener.
Brainwash is a very interesting, entertaining book. especially for those interested in conspiracies and whatnot. the stories are amazing. lots of parts are definitely disturbing-- sensory deprivation, electric shock, subliminalism, etc. the effects are horrifying.
Streatfeild is a critical journalist.
i'm still hoping for more though. say, what about this Lady Gaga brainwashed theory, and other famous artists allegedly victims of mind control. also topics like Bill Clinton and Barbara Bush under hypnoses. those are more recent brainwash theories.
nevertheless, truly, this book opens your eyes and put things in perspective to the reality of the world we live in. this is a wake-up call. like a slap-in-your-face eye-opener.
January 30, 2016
Difficult to say exactly why I enjoyed this so much, because there was nothing which stood out about the writing, but I thought it very good indeed. Perhaps it was that the information was put across seamlessly without 'owt jarring.
The author examines a variety of situations in which 'mind control' has been used (or suspected) and discusses the facts behind them. Subliminal messages in heavy metal, interrogation of spies/terrorists, psychotherapy, religious cults, intelligence agencies, magic mushrooms, repressed memories of abuse and devil worship, sensory deprivation and so much more. I thought the book was well-paced, not getting bogged down in any area, had a good scientific basis and wasn't pitched patronisingly or oversimplified.
The only negative thing I would have to say about it would be *suddenly adopts glazed expression and fixed smile* NOTHING BECAUSE IT WAS PERFECT AND GOD LOVES ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE AND I AM NOT A COMMUNIST AND I WON'T TELL YOU ANYTHING BECAUSE I AM NOT A SPY.
The author examines a variety of situations in which 'mind control' has been used (or suspected) and discusses the facts behind them. Subliminal messages in heavy metal, interrogation of spies/terrorists, psychotherapy, religious cults, intelligence agencies, magic mushrooms, repressed memories of abuse and devil worship, sensory deprivation and so much more. I thought the book was well-paced, not getting bogged down in any area, had a good scientific basis and wasn't pitched patronisingly or oversimplified.
The only negative thing I would have to say about it would be *suddenly adopts glazed expression and fixed smile* NOTHING BECAUSE IT WAS PERFECT AND GOD LOVES ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE AND I AM NOT A COMMUNIST AND I WON'T TELL YOU ANYTHING BECAUSE I AM NOT A SPY.
June 26, 2007
This guy is amazing, but this subject did not keep my interest enough. It is very thorough investigative journalism, but the conspiracy theory has never been a big draw for me, despite the writing being good. His book Cocaine is fantastic and I think more appealing because he draws the relevance of cocaine in anyone's life, and makes us think how ingrained it is in our lives without us being aware. Government mind control is a little less impacting to everyone, and I think that where it lost me.
August 3, 2019
Occasionally at pains to exact the requisite amount of drama from events perfectly weighty as they already are, still a modest enough layman's introduction to the SURFACE of some widely known illicit programmes.
January 5, 2019
A very interesting and vast topic.
Truth drugs, trauma and hypnosis - I'd never heard of truth drugs before!!
Could it really be possible that the mind of a human being can be tampered with to the point that the person literally loses their mind. Tamprered with to the point that they can be somewhat programmed - e.g. programmed to believe they have committed crimes that they didn’t commit and request to be executed as punishment.
Could drugs, or induced hypnosis be responsible for this?
Or maybe operant conditioning - using unpleasant or tourturus and severely traumatic experiences to condition the mind to react to things in a certain way. Fear and trauma in animal experiments saw their learned behaviours and personalities do a complete u turn. In humans the same effects have been documented - even to the point where people have changed their religious beliefs. Psychologists refer to this type of thing as behaviourism, and it has been argued to be a means of controlling/programming and predicting human behaviour, moulding a human personality.
Pavlov did lots of reared experiments/research ( a bit of A Level Psychology is coming back to me now lol, and Bandura was another theorist who did similar experiments around operant conditioning).
If someone is brainwashed doesn't that make them a slave to the brainwasher, controlled and programmed, their freedom and liberty stolen.....
Streatfeild also goes on to explore the use of brainwashing in warfare.
Drugs that can alter your consciousness to a state between sleep man awake - a point at which the mind is less inhibited and reveals more truths and secrets and personal info that the sharp conscious mind ever would - and sticking a hypodermic needle in someone’s vein and increasing their dose as and when they seem to be shaping out of it during an ‘interrogation’ a general anaesthetic (barbiturate nembutal) research by Horsley (1931) showed women in labour under the influence of this drug started to reveal al sorts of things - inhibitions were removed in a matter of seconds.
A truth drug had been discovered. This new way of getting into an unconscious mind was termed nacroanalysis. perfect for any shadowy figures wanting to interrogate someone they just can’t seem to break!
Chemical brainwashing, which could also be done via/put in food.
Subliminal messages, electric shock therapy, interrogation methods and torture.....intrigued? Then read on.
Truth drugs, trauma and hypnosis - I'd never heard of truth drugs before!!
Could it really be possible that the mind of a human being can be tampered with to the point that the person literally loses their mind. Tamprered with to the point that they can be somewhat programmed - e.g. programmed to believe they have committed crimes that they didn’t commit and request to be executed as punishment.
Could drugs, or induced hypnosis be responsible for this?
Or maybe operant conditioning - using unpleasant or tourturus and severely traumatic experiences to condition the mind to react to things in a certain way. Fear and trauma in animal experiments saw their learned behaviours and personalities do a complete u turn. In humans the same effects have been documented - even to the point where people have changed their religious beliefs. Psychologists refer to this type of thing as behaviourism, and it has been argued to be a means of controlling/programming and predicting human behaviour, moulding a human personality.
Pavlov did lots of reared experiments/research ( a bit of A Level Psychology is coming back to me now lol, and Bandura was another theorist who did similar experiments around operant conditioning).
If someone is brainwashed doesn't that make them a slave to the brainwasher, controlled and programmed, their freedom and liberty stolen.....
Streatfeild also goes on to explore the use of brainwashing in warfare.
Drugs that can alter your consciousness to a state between sleep man awake - a point at which the mind is less inhibited and reveals more truths and secrets and personal info that the sharp conscious mind ever would - and sticking a hypodermic needle in someone’s vein and increasing their dose as and when they seem to be shaping out of it during an ‘interrogation’ a general anaesthetic (barbiturate nembutal) research by Horsley (1931) showed women in labour under the influence of this drug started to reveal al sorts of things - inhibitions were removed in a matter of seconds.
A truth drug had been discovered. This new way of getting into an unconscious mind was termed nacroanalysis. perfect for any shadowy figures wanting to interrogate someone they just can’t seem to break!
Chemical brainwashing, which could also be done via/put in food.
Subliminal messages, electric shock therapy, interrogation methods and torture.....intrigued? Then read on.
November 3, 2025
This is a fascinating and deeply researched look into the real history of mind control. The author takes readers through decades of experiments and psychological manipulation, from Cold War intelligence projects and hypnosis studies to cult indoctrination, drug testing, and modern interrogation methods. What makes the book stand out is its grounding in evidence rather than sensationalism. Drawing on declassified files and firsthand interviews with members of MI5, MI6, the CIA, and the US Army and victims, it offers a balanced and credible view of how these techniques were developed and applied.
It’s not a conspiracy-driven book, but a sober investigation of how far governments and organizations actually went in exploring control over the human mind. It clears up many misconceptions about what really works and what belongs to fiction. The author argues that the popular idea of a neat, reliable brainwashing technique is wrong; many historical attempts were ineffective or even harmful. He does concede that certain forms of influence and manipulation are possible. The problem is that he seems to apply a very narrow definition and assumes these methods would have to work quickly (within a few years at most) and thoroughly enough to turn someone into a puppet with no free will. This is pretty much how they initially intended these methods to work. Under that strict test, his conclusion that there is no such thing as brainwashing is fair.
However, brainwashing is usually not defined that way. It is generally understood as a systematic process of manipulating a person’s thoughts, beliefs, or behavior through psychological pressure, coercion, or other means of control, often to make them accept ideas or actions they would otherwise reject. In that sense, the phenomenon is very real. There are techniques that can be highly effective, even if they are not a reliable way to force every prisoner to reveal secrets. They tend to be much more effective when used for long term conditioning and influence rather than immediate control.
Overall, a compelling and eye-opening read for anyone interested in psychology, espionage history, or the boundaries of human manipulation.
It’s not a conspiracy-driven book, but a sober investigation of how far governments and organizations actually went in exploring control over the human mind. It clears up many misconceptions about what really works and what belongs to fiction. The author argues that the popular idea of a neat, reliable brainwashing technique is wrong; many historical attempts were ineffective or even harmful. He does concede that certain forms of influence and manipulation are possible. The problem is that he seems to apply a very narrow definition and assumes these methods would have to work quickly (within a few years at most) and thoroughly enough to turn someone into a puppet with no free will. This is pretty much how they initially intended these methods to work. Under that strict test, his conclusion that there is no such thing as brainwashing is fair.
However, brainwashing is usually not defined that way. It is generally understood as a systematic process of manipulating a person’s thoughts, beliefs, or behavior through psychological pressure, coercion, or other means of control, often to make them accept ideas or actions they would otherwise reject. In that sense, the phenomenon is very real. There are techniques that can be highly effective, even if they are not a reliable way to force every prisoner to reveal secrets. They tend to be much more effective when used for long term conditioning and influence rather than immediate control.
Overall, a compelling and eye-opening read for anyone interested in psychology, espionage history, or the boundaries of human manipulation.
Read
January 14, 2022I just wanted to address two huge problems with works cited by Streatfeild in the first chapter. He cites liberally from Edward Hunter, who is not an unbiased source. Hunter is credited for bringing the term "brainwashing" to the mainstream through his reporting on Russia and China in the 1950s. It is now well known that he was working for the CIA throughout the 50s, but that was not made public knowledge at the time. Hunter makes a lot of claims that have not been verified anywhere else, such as Pavlov's contributions to Soviet brainwashing methods.
More striking is that Streatfeild cites the pamphlet "Brain-Washing: A Synthesis of the Russian Textbook of Psychopolitics," which claims to be written by the Soviet secret police chief Lavrentiy Beria. Streatfeild repeats a lurid passage from this pamphlet, but fails to mention that it is now widely accepted that this pamphlet was a forgery created by L. Ron Hubbard. Streatfeild seems to know the authenticity of this paper is in dispute (saying it "purports to be" written by Beria), but he does not make that clear in the book. There's not even a footnote.
It could be argued that these inclusions are present in the first chapter simply to set up the context surrounding the US government's exploration of mind control techniques, but if that were the case than it is irresponsible of this author to not include modern criticisms of these works. The Hubbard thing was well known at least a decade before this book was written.
I couldn't get past the first chapter, but if you do read this I suggest following up on his sources as you go.
More striking is that Streatfeild cites the pamphlet "Brain-Washing: A Synthesis of the Russian Textbook of Psychopolitics," which claims to be written by the Soviet secret police chief Lavrentiy Beria. Streatfeild repeats a lurid passage from this pamphlet, but fails to mention that it is now widely accepted that this pamphlet was a forgery created by L. Ron Hubbard. Streatfeild seems to know the authenticity of this paper is in dispute (saying it "purports to be" written by Beria), but he does not make that clear in the book. There's not even a footnote.
It could be argued that these inclusions are present in the first chapter simply to set up the context surrounding the US government's exploration of mind control techniques, but if that were the case than it is irresponsible of this author to not include modern criticisms of these works. The Hubbard thing was well known at least a decade before this book was written.
I couldn't get past the first chapter, but if you do read this I suggest following up on his sources as you go.
February 1, 2018
Zajímavé téma, ale nesedlo mi zpracování. Autor je novinář. Bohužel. Pro knihu musel nasbírat řadu faktů, ale nelíbí se mi, jak s nimi pracuje. Celá kniha zavání víc senzací než vysvětlováním. Jako by se snažil udržet čtenáře co nejvíce v pocitu permanentní zvědavosti a znechucení. Tak třeba jedna kapitola se zabývá případem vyloupení banky pod vlivem hypnózy. Na desítkách stran procházíme jednotlivými stádii vyšetřování, často s nadbytkem detailů, aby nám bylo v posledním odstavci kapitoly sděleno, že to celé byl jen podvod. Tenhle fokus na nadbytek zjištěných detailů a málo prostoru pro vysvětlování a realitu se táhne celou knihou. Vypadá záslužné, že se autor pokusí vyhledat některé klíčové aktéry osobně a požádat je o vyjádření. Ale co naplat, když z toho stejně vzniknou jen dvě věty, jakým pocitem na něj daná osoba působila a zda mu příběh potvrdila nebo ho popřela (čemuž dle okolností věřit můžeme ale také nemusíme). Kdyby místo toho podnikl rozbor s nějakým odborníkem, dozvěděli bychom se víc, ale nebyla by to taková senzace jak vědět, že se autor skutečně sešel s klíčovou osobou. Za mě zklamání. Pokud hledáte naučnou literaturu a ne senzaci, zkuste něco jiného.
July 24, 2020
4-4.5 stars.
Non-fiction history books can border on being dull, but that wasn’t the case with this book. I enjoyed Dominic Streatfeild’s accessible and engaging writing style. I discovered this book while specifically researching about Project MKUltra, but now I’m inclined to read another non-fiction by Streatfeild on a different subject.
I’ve never felt the need to stop reading a book to pin post-it notes on different pages to bookmark useful information I wanted to remember... until this book.
Well-researched and interesting. Sometimes even creepy to read during late nights and early morning hours, especially the chapter on Judas Priest’s subliminal messaging.
Definitely worth a read if you’re into this subject. It changed the way I view how impressionable the human mind is and the way certain trauma can “rewire” it.
I’d consider this my favorite non-fiction I’ve read this year.
Non-fiction history books can border on being dull, but that wasn’t the case with this book. I enjoyed Dominic Streatfeild’s accessible and engaging writing style. I discovered this book while specifically researching about Project MKUltra, but now I’m inclined to read another non-fiction by Streatfeild on a different subject.
I’ve never felt the need to stop reading a book to pin post-it notes on different pages to bookmark useful information I wanted to remember... until this book.
Well-researched and interesting. Sometimes even creepy to read during late nights and early morning hours, especially the chapter on Judas Priest’s subliminal messaging.
Definitely worth a read if you’re into this subject. It changed the way I view how impressionable the human mind is and the way certain trauma can “rewire” it.
I’d consider this my favorite non-fiction I’ve read this year.
November 2, 2018
-super interesting content, lot's of cases that I'd heard about, but Streatfeild went super into depth with them
-the amount of research the author did for this book is amazing, he interviewed everyone that agreed to it!
-writing was engaging and I appreciated his sense of humour which made reading this ultra depressing subject matter very enjoyable
-sometimes he didn't really come back to cases which he started a chapter with, and things didn't really come to a close? on the other hand some things/people kept cropping up but he wouldn't really link the last time he spoke about it, for example the stories about William Sargant are very much scattered throughout the book ??
-thought it would be more science based rather than historical and political but it was still a fascinating book, and I think the author did the subject justice!
-the amount of research the author did for this book is amazing, he interviewed everyone that agreed to it!
-writing was engaging and I appreciated his sense of humour which made reading this ultra depressing subject matter very enjoyable
-sometimes he didn't really come back to cases which he started a chapter with, and things didn't really come to a close? on the other hand some things/people kept cropping up but he wouldn't really link the last time he spoke about it, for example the stories about William Sargant are very much scattered throughout the book ??
-thought it would be more science based rather than historical and political but it was still a fascinating book, and I think the author did the subject justice!
February 19, 2019
Author Dominic Streatfeild has a strong journalistic eye for writing .... until he doesn't.
I recommend that if any topics in this book interest you to the point of quoting them and bringing them up in conversations, explore these topics more with other materials. Find other sources and make sure. For example, if Mr. Streatfeild gave Cathy O'Brien the same consideration and in depth attention he gave the Hungarians and Pavlov, I would respect this book more. Instead he summed her up by giving a "prize for the single most offensive, fantasy-laden account."
Based on ...... what? His opinion.
Zero journalistic integrity points, which makes the book dismissable in my estimation.
I recommend that if any topics in this book interest you to the point of quoting them and bringing them up in conversations, explore these topics more with other materials. Find other sources and make sure. For example, if Mr. Streatfeild gave Cathy O'Brien the same consideration and in depth attention he gave the Hungarians and Pavlov, I would respect this book more. Instead he summed her up by giving a "prize for the single most offensive, fantasy-laden account."
Based on ...... what? His opinion.
Zero journalistic integrity points, which makes the book dismissable in my estimation.
Read
September 12, 2024The book discusses topics such as "truth drugs" (LSD, etc), sensory deprivation, hypnosis, subliminal messaging, the CIA's MKULTRA, electro convulsive therapy, cults and deprogramming.
And on page 361-362 in the final chapter: "In fact the evidence all points the other way: brainwashing didn't work. Outside the recovered memories of 'survivors' there is not a shred of evidence to indicate that the Agency (CIA) ever succeeded in creating a Manchurian Candidate."
An interesting read nonetheless, although chapter 9 was a bit graphic.
And on page 361-362 in the final chapter: "In fact the evidence all points the other way: brainwashing didn't work. Outside the recovered memories of 'survivors' there is not a shred of evidence to indicate that the Agency (CIA) ever succeeded in creating a Manchurian Candidate."
An interesting read nonetheless, although chapter 9 was a bit graphic.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2017
You might be wondering what precisely this book is about based on its title. Is it some hodgepodge of conspiracy theory? Well the answer is no.
This book came recommended to me by a political science professor from university. It seeks to delve into the history of attempts at mind control, loosely speaking. In actual fact it has served to dispel a lot of the nonsense out there. It turns out, that everything from ARTICHOKE to MKULTRA resulted in almost nothing but a lesson in wasted time and money.
This book is a great read. Every chapter and every page was entertaining and shed light on a lot of bizarre things the government and military and various institutions have experimented with, in the hopes of discovering a way to control people and or gather information from them, unwittingly, or unwillingly.
Some brief conclusions you will get from this book, some of which I already was aware of, which MAY SPOIL THINGS.
Coffee and Beer are just about as effective at getting the truth out of someone as any truth drug. In fact, most information gathered using drugs is sketchy and questionable at best. It turns out making someone take LSD, Sodium Pentothal, Scopolamine, or Mushrooms, etc, doesn't produce the best information.
Subliminal Messages don't do anything. Flashing the image "eat popcorn" at a theater for 1/3000 of a second, will NOT induce subjects to eat more popcorn.
Hypnosis can at best suggest a person do something they are already very morally inclined to doing. You cannot use hypnosis to induce a person to betray their morals. So no, you cannot "program" a person unwittingly to assassinate someone. It's utter fictional nonsense, just as is splitting personalities to try to create a personality at your bidding.
This book came recommended to me by a political science professor from university. It seeks to delve into the history of attempts at mind control, loosely speaking. In actual fact it has served to dispel a lot of the nonsense out there. It turns out, that everything from ARTICHOKE to MKULTRA resulted in almost nothing but a lesson in wasted time and money.
This book is a great read. Every chapter and every page was entertaining and shed light on a lot of bizarre things the government and military and various institutions have experimented with, in the hopes of discovering a way to control people and or gather information from them, unwittingly, or unwillingly.
Some brief conclusions you will get from this book, some of which I already was aware of, which MAY SPOIL THINGS.
Coffee and Beer are just about as effective at getting the truth out of someone as any truth drug. In fact, most information gathered using drugs is sketchy and questionable at best. It turns out making someone take LSD, Sodium Pentothal, Scopolamine, or Mushrooms, etc, doesn't produce the best information.
Subliminal Messages don't do anything. Flashing the image "eat popcorn" at a theater for 1/3000 of a second, will NOT induce subjects to eat more popcorn.
Hypnosis can at best suggest a person do something they are already very morally inclined to doing. You cannot use hypnosis to induce a person to betray their morals. So no, you cannot "program" a person unwittingly to assassinate someone. It's utter fictional nonsense, just as is splitting personalities to try to create a personality at your bidding.
September 19, 2021
My ratings of books on Goodreads are solely a crude ranking of their utility to me, and not an evaluation of literary merit, entertainment value, social importance, humor, insightfulness, scientific accuracy, creative vigor, suspensefulness of plot, depth of characters, vitality of theme, excitement of climax, satisfaction of ending, or any other combination of dimensions of value which we are expected to boil down through some fabulous alchemy into a single digit.
December 9, 2020
I read /Brainwash: the Secret History of Mind Control/, by Dominic Streatfeild:
https://www.susanblackmore.uk/reviews...
It was, at times, both fascinating (the drugs) and disturbing (various forms of torture and mind control).
https://www.susanblackmore.uk/reviews...
It was, at times, both fascinating (the drugs) and disturbing (various forms of torture and mind control).
October 20, 2019
Some really great chapters but others dragged.
April 8, 2014
This was one of those meaty, satisfying non-fiction reads that it’s nonetheless hard to say too much about. It was... good? I... enjoyed it? I... will probably have forgotten it by next month?
Brainwash explores various avenues of mind control from the past century: from state-sponsored experimentation with ‘truth drugs’ to academic explorations of sensory deprivation tanks that cause participants to begin hallucinating within hours.
Inevitably, some chapters are better than others (the ‘messages hidden in rock records’ chapter is mostly bobbins), but Dominic Streatfeild keeps a good handle on his material, always taking things back to personal stories. (This is basically a masterclass on how to structure a non-fiction book. Lesser authors should take note.)
Although it’s a genuinely engaging read, I do think Brainwash is over-long and there’s still a little bit of fat that could have been trimmed from the book. Plus, the publisher pulls the classic bait-and-switch, sneakily reducing the font size to make this look like 100,000 words when it’s actually much longer. But I can’t complain too much.
One to read on a long journey. Preferably on an e-reader with the font size jacked up.
Brainwash explores various avenues of mind control from the past century: from state-sponsored experimentation with ‘truth drugs’ to academic explorations of sensory deprivation tanks that cause participants to begin hallucinating within hours.
Inevitably, some chapters are better than others (the ‘messages hidden in rock records’ chapter is mostly bobbins), but Dominic Streatfeild keeps a good handle on his material, always taking things back to personal stories. (This is basically a masterclass on how to structure a non-fiction book. Lesser authors should take note.)
Although it’s a genuinely engaging read, I do think Brainwash is over-long and there’s still a little bit of fat that could have been trimmed from the book. Plus, the publisher pulls the classic bait-and-switch, sneakily reducing the font size to make this look like 100,000 words when it’s actually much longer. But I can’t complain too much.
One to read on a long journey. Preferably on an e-reader with the font size jacked up.
November 29, 2009
In the middle of reading: As CIA's MK-ULTRA has long been an interest of mine, there's a lot I already know, but I love Streatfield b/c he seems to have no capacity to edit his research--he gives you EVERYTHING, in a chatty tone full of gallows humor. In this case, that's really working for me so far. Had no idea Robert Graves played such an instrumental role in the intro of shrooms to the West, for example. (See, he's tangential--what does that have to do w/mind control? Well, psyclobin was one of the drugs the CIA tried to develop into a truth serum in the 50s.) Ironically I've been watching the new adaptation of "The Prisoner" series on AMC while reading this.
**
The fact that there is no sure fire way of extracting the truth from someone, after years of research on the subject, yet there are plenty of way to traumatize him/her deeply and all are being used in this current war was brought home grimly through this book.
**
The fact that there is no sure fire way of extracting the truth from someone, after years of research on the subject, yet there are plenty of way to traumatize him/her deeply and all are being used in this current war was brought home grimly through this book.
May 10, 2014
A fascinating look at the various methods and attempts at mind control through the years. Starting with the Moscow Show Trials and Korean prisoners making claims against their own country, research began to discover if the human mind could be remade into something else, if memory could be tampered with, if what makes a person who they are could be altered or adjusted to fit the needs of a given operation.
This book covers some of the stranger experiments in interrogation and brainwashing by government agencies and medical professionals from the end of WWII to today. To me, some of the most interesting elements include the tested pharmacology of marijuana, LSD, and "magic" mushrooms (which, of course, escaped the lab and became popular recreational drugs), while the more disturbing include the concept of false memory and a case in which a man went to prison for a series of horrible lies his children told.
Definitely an interesting read.
This book covers some of the stranger experiments in interrogation and brainwashing by government agencies and medical professionals from the end of WWII to today. To me, some of the most interesting elements include the tested pharmacology of marijuana, LSD, and "magic" mushrooms (which, of course, escaped the lab and became popular recreational drugs), while the more disturbing include the concept of false memory and a case in which a man went to prison for a series of horrible lies his children told.
Definitely an interesting read.
February 17, 2016
Great book. Covers a lot of material, goes in depth on many topics and manages to tie it all back in. Definitely a keeper. Don't know if it's entirely comprehensive but it definitely covers a good amount, and very well at that. And also has a lot of leads on other historical books about mind control.
Recommend this in conjunction with Acid Dreams: The Complete Cultural History of the CIA, LSD and the Sixties Rebellion by Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain Both share some ideosyncrasies and benefit from the same detached yet still watching tone, and that's one of my favorites in any case.
Recommend this in conjunction with Acid Dreams: The Complete Cultural History of the CIA, LSD and the Sixties Rebellion by Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain Both share some ideosyncrasies and benefit from the same detached yet still watching tone, and that's one of my favorites in any case.
June 13, 2023
The subject matter is dark, and it casts a relatively wide net. In some parts, that seemed to hurt the book. Things felt a little scattered, stories came and went without quite fitting into the larger discussion. Still, they were interesting stories. Further, I felt like the book needed more psychological background. It was a strong historical take, but some more information on the science would have made it a richer reading experience.
What Streatfeild excels at is powerful investigative journalism, discussing the ideas, events, and people with thorough and convincing research. Interviews, first-hand accounts, and a clearly staggering amount of work. It's a compelling book because it's so clear that it is a true one.
What Streatfeild excels at is powerful investigative journalism, discussing the ideas, events, and people with thorough and convincing research. Interviews, first-hand accounts, and a clearly staggering amount of work. It's a compelling book because it's so clear that it is a true one.
April 28, 2009
I was pretty disappointed by Streatfield's second book, since I loved his first so much. He definitely manages to exhaust the topic, but he doesn't have the personalized tone and humour that made Cocaine so enjoyable. Each chapter follows the same pattern. He tells a story about some mysterious case of brainwashing, backs up to give you the history and background of that particular type of brainwashing, and then finishes the story. I would only recommended it to people really interested in the subject or people who are Cold War nerds.
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