History Tends to Repeat Itself

Reviews the book, Brainwash: The secret history of mind control by Dominic Streatfeild (see record 2006-23670-000). In this book, the author “traces the history of the world's most secret psychological procedure [brainwashing]” (book cover leaflet). Indeed, as Streatfeild notes several times throughout the book, the topic of brainwashing is one of interest to many people, not only those in national organizations such as the Central Intelligence Agency but also to the average layperson because of the macabre nature of the topic. Indeed, I think it is the macabre nature of brainwashing, and how variations on it have been used by numerous political and religious organizations, that made reading this book such a ghoulish pleasure. In this review, I offer a brief overview of the book's contents, followed by positive aspects of the book, and I shall conclude with potential shortcomings of the book, particularly with respect to use in the classroom. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)