“An exploration of our culture wars’ roots in psychological warfare…Newitz is so skillful at elucidating such a tangled, morally contentious history that I never felt lost.” – Jennifer Szalai - The New York Times“Annalee Newitz always sees to the heart of complex systems and breaks them down with poetic ferocity.” – N.K. Jemisin, author of the Broken Earth trilogy“Annalee Newitz’s thoroughly researched and masterfully crafted book gives us something hopeful—a way to disarm the narratives that have been used against us and reclaim better ones.” – Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of An Immense World“A brilliant historical deep-dive into psyops, military covert influence operations, and the corporate attempts to conquer the mind. This will change the way you understand America.” – Molly Crabapple, author of Drawing Blood“A penetrating, passionately-reasoned analysis of how propaganda and disinformation have been used as tactics of both hard and soft wars, and how we continue to be manipulated today. This is a storyteller’s account of the devastating force of storytelling.” – Angela Saini, author of The Patriarchs

Annalee Newitz is a journalist and author of the national bestseller Four Lost Cities. They write for the New York Times and New Scientist and co-host the Hugo Award–winning podcast Our Opinions Are Correct. They live in San Francisco.