Accatastare libri scaraventandoli dagli scaffali di una biblioteca, poi giù in strada per dare loro fuoco, tra le urla scomposte di un entusiasmo delirante. Ma cosa significa davvero bruciare i libri? È solo il gesto violento di una censura o nasconde di più? Testimone diretto del rogo nazista del maggio 1933, Löwenthal traccia in questo saggio, scritto dopo il suo ritorno in Germania alla fine della seconda guerra mondiale, un percorso che dalla Cina del III secolo a.C. arriva fino ai gio...

This first volume of the collected writings of sociologist Leo Lowenthal contains his classic theoretical and historical writings on the relationship of art to mass culture. This book series presents Lowenthal's contributions to a theory of the role of communication in modern society. This volume lays out the basis for a theory of mass culture. Lowenthal demonstrates that the juxtaposition of a "low"mass culture and a "high"esoteric culture did not originate in contemporary industrial, bou...

The studies in this volume deal with problems of authoritarianism and anti-Semitism. Lowenthal's book length contribution, "Prophets of Deceit," which begins this collection, is a classic of political psychology. This research study is followed by an essay, "Terror's Atomization of Man. "Lowenthal uses this material for a theory of the psychological mechanisms operative under terrorist conditions and their significance for contemporary society.

This volume's predominant theme is bourgeois mentality and its historical development. The works of Lope de Vega, Calderon, Cervantes, and Shakespeare, among others, are analysed within the historical framework of the decline of feudalism and the rise of the absolute regimes. Those of Moliere and Goethe are set against the background of an evolving and consolidating bourgeois society in Western Europe.

The core of this volume is its presentation of Lowenthal's sixty-year-long intellectual career as a critical theorist and sociologist. The book includes some of his speeches on Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin and presents excerpts from conversations on his life as a scholar and teacher, as managing editor of the Institute for Social Research's famous journal, as government servant during and immediately after the war, and as observer and critic of contemporary culture and politics. Toge...

A classic book that analyzes and defines media appeals specific to American pro-fascist and anti-Semite agitators of the 1940s, such as the application of psychosocial manipulation for political ends. The book details psychological deceits that idealogues or authoritarians commonly used. The techniques are grouped under the headings "Discontent", "The Opponent", "The Movement" and "The Leader". The authors demonstrate repetitive patterns commonly utilized, such as turning unfocused social ...

This anthology of hard-to-find primary documents provides a solid overview of the foundations of American media studies. Focusing on mass communication and society and how this research fits into larger patterns of social thought, this valuable collection features key texts covering the media studies traditions of the Chicago school, the effects tradition, the critical theory of the Frankfurt school, and mass society theory. Where possible, articles are reproduced in their entirety to pres...