Books about fake news
- showmethereality
- Dec 14, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 14, 2020
Propaganda and fake news also have an important role in literature. It is often mentioned that we are living in an era of fake news, but this has actually been the case for many years. Plenty of people have tried to analyze, assess the impact of it on our lives. Books about fake news have a disturbing and dystopian nuance on the world and makes us question all the headlines we read. We offer you books whose topic is about fake news or it is related to them in some form.
Edward Bernays (1928) - Propaganda
The main theme of the book are the two following thoughts: there is an “invisible government” that manipulates the mindset of millions of Americans and that it may not be such a bad thing. This was the first book to examine the Freudian approach to fake news, which is that we focus less on what we want than our hidden fears and desires.
Sidney Rogerson (1938) - Propaganda in the Next War
This book is a guide to the dark world of propaganda. “Never tell a lie”, Rogerson begins, “if you can possibly help it.” At the time of publishing, anti-war American politicians seized the book as evidence that the Albion (The Great Britain’s alternative name) wanted to steer the country into another war.
A Brad Schwartz (2015) –Broadcast Hysteria
On the evening of October 30th,1938, U.S. radio listeners heard a shocking report of a meteor strike in the New Jersey area. With loud sirens in the background, reporters described mysterious creatures, terrifying war machines, and thick clouds of poisonous gas towards New York City. The people panicked. As it turned out, the news wasn’t real, it was just an Orson Welles’ adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel ‘The War of the Worlds’. The book actually describes how a hoax has become mass hysteria.
Roald Dahl, Gilbert Highet et al (1998) - British Security Coordination
They did not want to publish this book because it was considered flawed. It is a sanctioned insider’s report on the British influence campaign in the United States, and it was made only for civil servants with the appropriate security clearance. It is full of statements, but it is also full of mistakes and exaggerations. It’s a book written about fake news, yet the book itself is full of misinformation.
David Aaronovitch (2009) - Voodoo Histories
After reading the book, you will become more skeptical about any news you read. Aaronovitch’s analysis of conspiracy theories is provocative, convincing, and thoughtful. From Kennedy’s murder to Princess Diana’s death, he carefully examines the stories and He examines why people believe in them and argues for true skepticism: the book is based on a thorough knowledge of history and common sense.
Kathleen Hall Jamieson (2018) – Cyberwar
A powerful, evidence-based analysis, by a dean of American politics, of how Russian intervention could have divided the 2016 election in the United States of American. The book seeks to answer the following question: Did the Russians help elect Donald Trump? She carefully articulates how the Russians have overturned the election. She argues persuasively that due the tiny margins in the poll, the Russian influenced campaign probably brought Trump to his presidency
Daniel Levitin (2016) - Weaponized Lies
Although the books mentioned before focus ont he use and impact of false news, this book calls for resistance. This is a theory of a recognized cognitive psychologist about ho lies and exaggerations can be noticed in the media. Although some parts of the book are educational in nature, it contains fascinating materials regarding statistics and language abuse.
These book recommendations help us in differentiating real news from the fake one. They also help us learn about the way of spreading and the effects of fake news. If any of the aforementioned books have caught your attention, we definitely recommend you to read them.
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