How Autocrats Weaponised Media to Shape Nations and Silence Truth
Thom Poole
The Propaganda of Tyrants is a comprehensive, in-depth examination of how leaders, both historical and contemporary, have distorted reality to gain control and influenced perception to stay in power. This book charts the development of propaganda as a tool and a reflection of oppression, from stone monuments and holy temples to social media algorithms and digital barriers.
Propaganda has been around for as long as mankind communicated – from the fisherman’s fib through Plato’s noble lie to whole-scale deceptions.
Thom Poole explores “The Anatomy of Control,” journeying through time and across civilisations to examine how symbols, rituals, and stories were engineered to legitimise rule – from Pharaohs and Emperors to party leaders and presidents. We also look at the transformative impact of print, the rise of nationalism, and the revolutionary influence of film and radio, and of course, the relatively recent advent of digital communication that has both aided and hindered modern dictators.
The book exposes the mechanisms of manipulation through the Cold War’s ideological confrontations, China’s smooth fusion of traditional authority and technological innovation, and Hitler and Stalin’s well-documented, but still chilling, hold on history. Each chapter provides disturbing insights into the mechanisms of control, ranging from North Korea’s daily rituals of loyalty to the contemporary Western cult of celebrity and disinformation. We examine the propagandists who distribute the lies in addition to the tyrants themselves.
However, this is a story of resistance as much as it is of power. From dissident voices and underground presses to media literacy and digital activism, The Propaganda of Tyrants pushes readers to identify deception and resist it. In a time when perception is the battlefield and borders are blurred, this is a powerful call to awareness that is both rich in historical narrative and urgent in its contemporary relevance.
What occurs when authority is disguised as legitimacy? And before the delusion materialises, how do we fight it?
Motivation
Power doesn’t just control armies, it controls minds. The Propaganda of Tyrants exposes the 5,000-year playbook authoritarians use to warp reality, from stone monuments to TikTok algorithms. I wrote this book because understanding manipulation is the first step to defeating it. I love history, especially twentieth century history that is littered with tyranny and oppression, especially with the rise of mass communications media.
Every chapter reveals a disturbing pattern: tyrants don’t invent new lies, they perfect old ones. Whether it’s Pharaohs claiming divine right or modern autocrats weaponising AI, the tools change but the goal remains, to make oppression feel inevitable. Yet history also shows us how truth-tellers break the spell, from samizdat publishers to meme-war dissidents.
This isn’t just about the past. Right now, democracies are being outmanoeuvred in the perception wars. My hope? That by dissecting propaganda’s anatomy, we can inoculate society against its worst effects, before the next big lie takes root.
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