A review by maxgardner
This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality by Peter Pomerantsev

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

Listening to this was a bit of a challenge because it's pretty dense for the first half, and most of that density comprises of details on international relations that I'm woefully ignorant about. Pomerantsev references a lot of historical fights various countries have had with fascism and authoritarianism, and though I'm aware of these at a high level, I am bad with geography and keeping track of the specifics with regards to the names of people and places as well as specific years, so some of the details blurred together for me in the first couple of chapters. I also think Pomerantsev struggles to really emphasize and highlight the points he's making at times, where I can understand what he's getting at but the actual statement of the point lacks any umph that helps it stand out and really make an impact. He gets better with this as the book goes on, and the latter half feels really tight and well constructed (though it's also helpful that I am more familiar with some of those historical facts). Overall, this is a really fascinating read, and he's making observations and drawing connections between the way propaganda has evolved that force you to not only understand some modern behavioral patterns we've seen with identity politics, but also to reflect on your own relationship with identity and how that's been shaped.