fab_fi's review against another edition
challenging
informative
tense
medium-paced
3.5
The beginning and end of the book were extremely interesting. I found the central section about the Cold War rather challenging, as there were so many names and acronyms to keep track of. That said, it seems to have been meticulously researched.
miguelf's review against another edition
4.0
The book focuses on Russian and former Soviet disinformation efforts over the past 100 years and does a good job going into the details on these endeavors. Lest one thinks that they’ll get a rehash of the 2016 IRA campaign ad infinitum, the book is ¾ of the way through before we are even at the end of the Soviet empire so it’s much more backward looking than focusing at recent events. A lot of the action takes place in post war Germany, where apparently the author spent much of his time as well. The 2016 efforts are definitely given their due but they take place as a part of a larger whole, which is explained very thoroughly here.
grovesc's review against another edition
5.0
"The goal of disinformation is to engineer division by putting emotion over analysis, division over unity, conflict over consensus, the particular over the universal. For, after all, a democracy's approach to the truth is not simply an epistemic question, but an existential question. Putting objectivity before ideology contributed to opening societies, and to keeping them open. Putting ideology before objectivity, by contrast, contributed to closing societies, and to keeping them closed. It is therefore no coincidence that objectivity was under near-constant assault in the ideologically town twentieth century." p. 426
vladco's review against another edition
4.0
We are repeating history because we don’t understand it. This fantastic book is unlocked for me new understanding of information warfare, politics, marketing, and communications.