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The Captive Mind (Penguin Modern Classics)
£9.80£12.30 (-20%)
Written in Paris in the early 1950s, this book created instant controversy in its analysis of modern society that had allowed itself to be hypnotized by socio-political doctrines, and to accept totalitarian terror on the strength of a hypothetical future.
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Additional information
| Publisher | 19th edition (7 Jun. 2001), Penguin Classics |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 272 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0141186763 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0141186764 |
| Dimensions | 13 x 1.6 x 19.7 cm |
by David
One of the most difficult books I’ve read, but one of the most rewarding. Well worth the effort for the sheer amount of depth in every section. A must for anyone interested in extremism, totalitarianism or anyone foolish enough to think communism is a pretty neat idea.
by Isak Johannsson
I was expecting something more, but I have to say I was left disappointed.
by MOYRA E MCCRORY
Its a book. I read it. That’s how one uses ‘the product’. Sorry these questions are not always relevant.
However the book I ordered is by Czeslaw Milosz, so what’s not to like? It arrived on time and was in great condition. Delighted with this purchase.
by heavy reader
It’s hard to state the importance of this book if you want to understand stalinism how it was implemented on poland and the countries stalin crossed and occupied in eastern europe after the soviet union marched to berlin. Mi³osz explaines some of the ways the marx,engels ‘theory’ was used to the gains of this tyrant.Whats so terrifiying is that there is a battle of the conscience to conform or in stalinist poland to die or be sent to the soviet gulags.He goes to great lengths to explain his views and knowledge of the events he experienced in warsaw in WWII seeing the german occupation to the ghetto uprising to the battle for polish freedom (warsaw uprising 1944).
He tells a great account of how he and his friends who during the german occupation witnessed and lived within the german system which they fought and propagated against,which demanded only slavery of the body .
Then after that occupation they were occupied by the soviet union.which demanded slavery of both body and mind and to conform and then propagate for it.He gives a account of four friends(mainly part of the polish intelligencia)he spent his childhood and the war with and how they sold there pre-war beliefs and talents to help stalin and his minions in the mastery of the polish people.
by N. E. M. Goulder
This is a total classic, a towering indictment of the world behind the Iron Curtain. Milosz wrote it as early as 1952, showing eye-popping penetration into the misery implicit in all that the whole of Russia and Eastern Europe suffered. It should be compulsory reading for anyone who thinks they might understand the politics of communism without reading it.
If you enjoy it, you should follow on with Aleksandr Wat’s My Century, for which Milosz played interviewer. Both are truly central books for our times.
by shufti
Czesław Miłosz explains how socialist realism ate into the minds of Eastern European writers and artists after WW2. Cancel culture is today’s version of this. The process of self-censorship being the same.
The subjugation of the independent mind, gradually succumbing, submitting and finally surrendering to the accepted lines of doctrine. It seems we take God away and an “ ‘ism ” rushes -in to fill the void.
The state cult becomes a creed, a religious doctrine. Providing the stage for a demigod like Hitler or Stalin. Fundamentally you see yourself as an instrument of the state where previously you saw yourself, however reluctantly, as a servant of God’s truth; or at least of a higher, more noble truth.
For many people, the state’s crude truths are sufficient for their needs; even if it means their own self-destruction. Resisting state orthodoxy makes you an “obstacle to progress”, and therefore part of a ‘problem’ which, in time, will require a ‘solution’. People who don’t take vaccines, for example.
Be honest. Certain people should be got rid of somehow. Like bad smells, germs or evil spirits. So the community can be cleansed & purified. This idea is as useful today as it was in nazi Germany, Mao’s china and Stalin’s Russia. The “Good Old Days” !!
If you are still able to think for yourself this book will help you understand why so many others are literally losing their minds to modern cults – they are in fact just going back too the good old days.
by Sal Paradise
“The pressure of an all-powerful totalitarian state creates an emotional tension in its citizens that determines their acts. When people are divided into “loyalists” and “criminals” a premium is placed on every type of conformist, coward, and hireling; whereas among the “criminals” one finds a singularly high percentage of people who are direct, sincere, and true to themselves.”
This book illustrates the power of the totalitarian state over the minds of its people. Art must bend to the ideologies of the centre or cease to exist. The entire psyche must be forced into a specific mould. The only choices are to accept it, and act accordingly, or perish.
by davelektor
An illuminating look at some of the much vaunted authors (propagandists) of communist era Poland.