Propaganda, Inc.: Selling America's Culture to the World

by Nancy Snow, Herbert I. Schiller (Foreword), Michael Parenti (Introduction)

An eye-opening overview of American cultural policy fully updated through the end of the Bush presidency, Propaganda, Inc. reveals how the United States Information Agency became a bureaucracy deeply distrustful of dissent, and one-way in its promotion of American corporate interests overseas.
Nancy Snow spent two years inside the Agency, and here provides an insider's account of its crooked relationship to corporate interests and war—a must-read for those concerned with American propaganda and the war on terror.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

124 pages, Paperback

First published November 13, 1998

About the author

Nancy Snow holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from American University's School of International Service in Washington, D.C. In AY 2023/2024, she served as Fulbright Professor of Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communications in Athens, Greece at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences ("Panteion"). She also lectured at the Hellenic National Defense College and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Snow held the Walt Disney Faculty Endowed Chair in Global Media at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, and remains a visiting distinguished professor and guest lecturer in strategic communications with the Schwarzman Scholars Program. For six years, Snow held a special appointment as Pax Mundi ("Distinguished") Professor of Public Diplomacy at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, the first full-time PD professor in Japan. She maintains many professional affiliations: strategic communications advisor at the International Security Industry Council Japan; senior fellow at the Sympodium Institute for Strategic Communications; faculty advisor to the OIST Foundation; adjunct fellow at the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies, Temple University Japan; and senior advisor in global public affairs with Kreab Tokyo.

Dr. Snow is an Emerita Professor of Communications at California State University, Fullerton, and a former Adjunct Professor in the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California where she was founding faculty of the Center on Public Diplomacy and Masters in Public Diplomacy program. Her visiting professor appointments include China (Tsinghua), Israel (Reichman/IDC-Herzliya), Japan (Sophia/Keio), and Malaysia (UiTM), as well as Syracuse University’s Maxwell and Newhouse Schools.

Snow is the author, editor, or co-editor of 16 books, as well as Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Persian, and Portuguese translations. Her most recent is the 8th edition of "Propaganda and Persuasion" (Sage, 2025); "Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy" (with Nicholas J. Cull); "Japan's Information War"; "The SAGE Handbook of Propaganda" (with Paul Baines and Nicholas O'Shaughnessy); "Routledge Handbook of Critical Public Relations"; "Propaganda and American Democracy"; "Information War"; and "Propaganda, Inc."

Snow is a three-time award recipient of a Fulbright (Germany/Japan/Greece) and Abe Fellowship, and has served as a U.S. Speaker and Specialist in Public Diplomacy for the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.

Snow is contracted to publish "Battleship Diplomat: The Enduring Story of the Mighty Mo in US-Japan Relations" (Naval Institute Press).

Reviews

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Propaganda, Inc. - Vendendo ao Mundo a Cultura dos EUA, foi pego emprestado da biblioteca da UFSC porque queria encontrar livros explicando como e por que a cultura dos Estados Unidos foi despejada no resto do mundo e em especial a América Latina. E, mais um vez, pelo título do livro, o leitor vai ser levado a entender que é sobre isso mesmo que o livro trata. Só que não é. Nancy Snow trabalhou por anos na agência de propaganda estadunidense do exterior, a USIA, atualmente incorporada ao Departamento de Estado dos EUA. Contudo, ele explica mais o funcionamento do departamento e de suas guerras internas, que levaram ao seu fechamento do que exatamente analisar ou criticar a presença massiva da cultura estadunidense em outros países. É um livro pequeno e curto e que não comprei, então fico bem feliz por isso, porque se fosse o contrário teria me frustrado enormemente.

[Lisa M. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am not sure why this book was written.

Let me explain.

When I bought the book, I noticed that half of it consisted of introductions (yes, plural,) an author's note, a preface, and a forward. I thought it was strange, but I was getting it at a really cheap price and the topic was interesting. So, I decided to purchase it anyway. I regret that.

In one of the aforementioned sections, the material of the book is described as an "essay." The essay was first published in book form in 1998. The first introduction to this version deals with 9/11, and how that affected the U.S.'s propaganda machine.

I am not sure why an essay that is only seventy pages on its own was published in a book. Honestly, I think it should have remained an essay. Not every good academic essay needs to be published in such a format. Either that, or the author needed to stop being lazy, and extend her arguments. (Instead of including her 9/11 arguments in an introduction, maybe she could actually develop a book length manuscript and include them there.)

I felt like I wasted my time reading so much material honoring an essay that was so short. Also, the 9/11 section was relatively confusing. It was 46 pages long (I'm not even kidding!) and it was based in her previous essay. For those of us who haven't read the book, why not choose to include that as an epilogue or a post note if you are too lazy to incorporate it into the book properly? I was a little confused. This was also a really poorly written section -- it felt as if it was written in haste, and Snow's anger colored then text too much.

Otherwise, the introductions were written well (at times, better than the author's actual writing.) I enjoyed the ideas of the essay, but it dragged on. It felt really repetitive, as if material could have been removed.

I had really looked forward to reading this, but now I wouldn't suggest it to anyone.

[Public Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, clean, effective. Snow uses her experiences with the US Information Agency (USIA) as a launchpad for a broader critique of US corporate dominance in diplomacy and politics. Spot on.

[Graham Cifelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Moh Ass · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buku mengungkap propaganda amrik melalui media (radio, film, dll) agar kita semua ter-amerikanisasi. Sebenarnya tujuan dari propaganda amrik ditujukan (terutama) ke negera-2 komunis, agar rakyatnya berontak.

Ebook buku ini dapat di download secara gratis (dan halal) dari http://www.dinamikaebooks.com/freeebo...

[Dario · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting read about propaganda, media and how the United States are perceived abroad (as well as how this perception is constructed). I'm quite curious now to see how further editions will mention current events in relation to the essay...

[Tony Torres · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thorough account of the U.S. government's changing and(exponentially) expanding propaganda machine since WWI.