Public Opinion

A very important book in its time. And in ours. Lippmann warned 100 years ago about the dangers of too much democracy. Lippman argued that the American populace (“the bewildered herd”) must not overly influence government policy. Instead of a true democracy, in which the people directly control the c......more

Want to understand the last hundred years, and maybe the next hundred, in terms of the interplay between mass media and people's assumptions? The short book is an awfully good start.......more

This book is unfairly maligned because Chomsky holds it out as an example of elite liberal ideology (and it is a fair example in that regard), but Lippmann has a point about "public opinion". He wasn't the first or last to point out that the spontaneous majorities on various subjects are not necessa......more

Whatever else one may think of this classic, it is written to take one's breath away. The images of Lippmann's prose alone--e.g. the Platonic, iconic "pictures in the mind," itself an almost mandatory talking point for those who pass through liberal arts education in America--guarantee that this boo......more

Too many examples, anecdotes and questions, and not enough answers and explanation. While reading the book, I was often clueless on what the main point of the chapter/paragraph was.......more