The Century of the Self (2002)
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The idea for this series was originally suggested to Curtis, appropriately enough, by a PR, Julia Hobsbawm, daughter of Eric, another great shaper of centuries. Hobsbawm mentioned to Curtis in passing Bernays's own distinguished ancestry and it set his mind working. At the time, he was plotting out a history of spin in the twentieth century; the Freud connection seemed the perfect link, and so it proved.
By following in detail the story of Bernays - and subsequently the blood-related stories of Anna Freud, who did so much to propagate her father's ideas, and to a certain extent, Matthew Freud, the Blairite PR guru - Curtis examines the ways in which an idea, the modern idea that our feelings and desires are the most important thing about us, has taken on the status of a religion and changed the nature of our democracies.
Bernays himself emerges as a
remarkable character. He not only was able to sell the American people
anything - he made it cool for women to smoke and for children to love
soap and for eggs to accompany bacon - his skills also could win
elections and change the course of foreign policy. In one extraordinary
sequence, Curtis shows how Bernays single-handedly toppled the popular
Guatemalan government with one or two publicity stunts, playing on Cold
War fears, and acting on behalf of a banana corporation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self
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