Prophets of Deceit

Prophets of Deceit (A Study of the Techniques of the American Agitator) is a 1949 book co-written by the German sociologist Leo Löwenthal and the Polish-Jewish scholar Norbert Guterman. It examines political techniques used in the 1940s by American pro-fascists and anti-Semites, such as media manipulation and the application of psychosocial manipulation for political ends. The book details psychological deceits used by idealogues or authoritarians, grouping the techniques under the headings "Discontent", "The Opponent", "The Movement" and "The Leader".

In the series, the agitator utilizes unfocused feelings of social discontent to vilify a targeted enemy. He positions himself as a unifying presence: the ideal agitator, the only possible leader who can free his audience from the perceived enemy. Yet he is shallow and motivated by a desire to stir either social or racial disharmony, to reinforce his own necessity. The authors believed that fascist tendencies were at an early stage in America, but they warned that a time might come when Americans could and would be "susceptible to ... [the] psychological manipulation" of a rabble rouser.

Prophets of Deceit was published by Harper and Brothers as the first in a multi-volume series edited by Max Horkheimer and Samuel Flowerman for the American Jewish Committee's "Studies in Prejudice Series". It was well received by critics and political analysts, and was considered a valuable contribution to mid-20th century studies of prejudice.

"Studies in Prejudice Series" was a research project to produce a sociological study of prejudice in America in the 1930s and 1940s. The authors were German refugees living in the US, with first-hand experience of the Nazi regime, which imbues their work with a "tremendous vitality and a sense of relevance". During their exile from Germany, while living in Los Angeles, Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, both members of the Frankfurt School and working in conjunction with the Institute for Social Research, undertook an expansive research study of what they saw as a shift in spirit, a worldwide movement, which "defined not only mass culture in the United States but also the administrated cultures of the Third Reich and Stalin's Soviet Union."

...
Wikipedia