The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and the Birth of Public Relations

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Lobster Issue 44 (Winter 2002/3) £££

Larry Tye New York: Owl Books, 2002, pb $16.00 ISBN 0 8050 6789 2   If Edward Bernays hadn’t existed, Edward Bernays would have invented him. And in fact this is more or less what happened. This is the long-awaited paperback edition of the first full-length biography of Bernays, who, like President Harry Truman, added … Read more

Non-lethality: John B. Alexander, the Pentagon’s Penguin

Lobster Issue 25 (1993) £££

On April 22, 1993 both BBC1 and BBC2 showed on their main evening news bulletins a rather lengthy piece concerning America’s latest development in weaponry — the non-lethal weapons concept. David Shukman, BBC Defence Correspondent, interviewed (Retired) U.S. Army Colonel John B. Alexander and Janet Morris, two of the main proponents of the concept. (1) … Read more

Conspiracy: Plots, Lies and Cover-ups

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Lobster Issue 46 (Winter 2003) £££

Richard M Bennett London: Virgin Books, 2003 £20 hardback   This is 350 pages of summaries of political and historical conspiracies. It starts in 2330 BC but the first 2007 years take up only 84 pages. The content is mostly Anglo-American, especially after WW2. It is done chronologically, so you get odd sequences of subjects: … Read more

Let us now praise famous researchers

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Lobster Issue 55 (Summer 2008) £££

Let us now praise famous researchers Praise from a Future Generation: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy and the first generation critics of the Warren Report John Kelin San Antonio, Texas: Wings Press, 2007. xviii + 585pps. Bibliography, Notes, Sources, etc. Illustrated. $29.95. Reviewed by Anthony Frewin While the literature critical of the Warren Commission’s … Read more

America, drugs, corruption and the British national interest

Lobster Issue 51 (Summer 2006) £££

In March a member of the SAS resigned from the British Army, stating, inter alia, that he ‘didn’t join the British army to conduct American foreign policy’. (1) My initial reaction was: well, what did he think he would be doing? Where is this independent British foreign policy he thought he was going to serve? … Read more

The Party of Business and the Business of Parties

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Lobster Issue 44 (Winter 2002/3) £££

Labour Party PLC David Osler Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing, £15.99, 2002 Colin Challen MP Having written a history of Conservative Party funding, (1) I had been wondering when somebody would get round to doing a similar job on Labour. However, Labour Party plc is more than a simple history of party financing, it seeks to show … Read more

The covert origins of the Biafran War

Lobster Issue 25 (1993) £££

Since 1988 a goodly slice of the Great and the Good of British civil, political and media society, from the current Prime Minister downwards, have been getting letters and press releases from Mr Harold Smith. Smith’s letters have served as a kind of substitute for the non-publication of his memoir Sons of Oxford. Commissioned in … Read more

Drugs, oil and war

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Lobster Issue 46 (Winter 2003) £££

Drugs, oil and war Peter Dale Scott Oxford (UK) and New York : Rowman and Littlefield Inc; 2003, $22.95, p/b   On the left-hand page facing his first page of text Scott gives us two definitions of deep politics, the concept he introduced which succeeded his earlier concept of parapolitics. deep politics: ‘all those political … Read more

Print: Journals and book review

Lobster Issue 17 (1988) £££

Robin Ramsay Often referred to in other things is Israeli Foreign Affairs, ‘an independent monthly report on Israel’s diplomatic and military activities world-wide’. It is 8 pages A4 and though this is not a subject I am interested in, this looks very impressive and is thoroughly documented. September 1988 includes (using IFA’s headlines) Jerusalem Christian … Read more

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