A Propaganda System: How Canada’s government, corporations, media and academia sell war and exploitation

by Yves Engler

A Propaganda How Government, Corporations, Media and Academia Sell War and Exploitation reveals why most Canadians believe their country is a force for good in the world, despite a long history of supporting empire, racism and exploitation. The book details the vast sums Global Affairs Canada, Veterans Affairs and the Department of National Defence spend articulating a one-sided version of Canada’s foreign policy. With the largest PR machine in the country, the Canadian Forces promotes its worldview through a history department, university, journals, war commemorations, think tanks, academic programs and hundreds of public relations officers.
A Propaganda System traces the long history of government information control during war, including formal censorship, as well as extreme media bias on topics ranging from Haiti to Palestine, investment agreements to the mining industry. The book also details the corporate elite’s funding for university programs and think tanks.
Written for ordinary Canadians interested in the structures impeding understanding of this country’s role in the world, the book should be of interest to journalists curious about the institutions seeking to “spin” them, development workers dependent on government funds and academics interested in the foreign-policy establishment’s influence on campus.

Genres: Canada, Politics, Nonfiction, History

311 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 17, 2016

Reviews

[Keegan Webster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book on the machinations of the canadian propaganda machine, specifically relating to foreign affairs and interventions. I feel that canadian foreign policy is something that the canadian left does not emphasize nearly enough, and I hope that these lines of interrogation become more popular in the coming years, as challenging our national mythology is dearly needed.

The book sometimes reads a little like a very long journal article, but I see that as more a testament to the dedicated referencing Engler does rather than any detriment to the writing style. If only I was able to commit this ocean of facts to memory! Nevertheless, very useful to have stacks of events to point to when people ask for examples of canada's imperialist and exploitative nature. Definitely going to read more of his works in the future, starting I think with Canada in Africa: 300 years of exploitation.

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly researched book that explains exactly what the title says. Engler clearly lays out how Canada's government/military, academics, corporations, and media all suppress views that go against Canadian foreign policy (whether government policy or corporate policy, what's the difference?). It's a bit dry but that's mainly because it's a bunch of information in a small book (a useful reference book). I wish there was deeper analysis of the information he puts forward, and I feel he gets very close to a Marxist analysis but doesn't (which makes sense, considering he isn't one). Still worth reading, and should be a must read for anyone on the Canadian Left who doubts how strictly controlled information is in this country, and why.

[Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more than I did. I agree with Engler's analysis, but this book is very high-level. It's full of typos (e.g., mining magnet), and is more concerned with listing things in a paragraph than actually examining them in depth. It works more as a catalogue than a text.

Engler relies a lot on early- and mid-century actions which didn't take place in most of his readers' lifetimes and in completely different geopolitical contexts than the present. He assumes a lot of reader awareness about things, saying that this action was wrong without going into any context or historicity.

You can tell he's done a lot of work, but the presentation is sorely lacking. Though I now know other subjects to read about by authors that have more to say than to list.