A review by literallytouko
How Propaganda Works by Jason Stanley

2.0

This is probably one of the most dense books I've ever read and in an entirely unpleasant way. The author repeats themselves so much, I questioned whether it's part of their writing style, a function of the text, or they legitimately think their audience is stupid. Like, I was re-reading sections over and over because I felt like I was going crazy, reading the same concept worded slightly different ways, sentence after sentence. I have no idea who this book is for; it reads like several academic papers stitched together. If that's the case, that would be fine, and I wouldn't care at all, were it marketed that way, or if it was mentioned somewhere on the back of the book or something. An academic thesis is not what I expected to be reading, not the experience I showed up for, and ultimately I decided life's too short to force myself to keep going with something I'm actively hating. I can count on one hand the number of times I've DNF'd and this is a new one.