Crystallizing Public Opinion

A revolutionary work on public relations and marketing by the provocative thinker who was dubbed the father of public relations.
Few books have had the same subdued impact as "Crystallizing Public Opinion" by Edward L. Bernays. It is a ground-breaking and, as history has demonstrated, influential manual on the most important concepts of mass persuasion that was first published in 1923. This famous study, written in the wake of World War I and aimed at governments and corporations, argues the value of public relations in democratic society by fusing crowd psychology with the foundations of psychoanalysis. Drawing on extensive case studies ranging from the revival of a struggling New York magazine to Lithuania's quest for international recognition, Bernays demonstrates the growing importance of his field in influencing public opinion while outlining the vital strategies for galvanizing widespread support in a world that is becoming more and more divided.
PBS honored it in its Books That Shook the World series, holds a unique position in history as it defined a system and an idea that were adopted by national governments, corporate titans, and progressive social organizations alike.

Edward Bernays (1891–1995) was a pioneer in the field of public relations who emigrated from his native Austria to the United States in the 1930s. During his career in public relations, Bernays devised and popularized many techniques for influencing public opinion on behalf of a huge roster of clients that included many corporations and industrial organizations, governments around the world, and advocacy groups in many fields. "Public relations, effectively used, helps validate an underlying principle of our society — competition in the market place of ideas and things," he wrote in 1971.