Crystallizing Public Opinion

Edward L. Bernays

Jan 2020 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

In this first ever book on the public relations (PR) industry, Edward Bernays, the original public relations pioneer, brings us the best ways for the government and corporations to relate to the public. Crystallizing Public Opinion brings us the original basic principles behind the techniques that corporations have been using to influence the public for the past one hundred years.

In his original text, Bernays highlights some of the history and techniques behind the, then new, public relations counsel. Some of the subjects he highlights include:
 

• The scope and function of the PR counsel
• Forces that make up public opinion
• The mechanisms behind public opinion (group and herd thinking)
• Techniques and methods for reaching and influencing the public
• Methods of communication with the public
• And more!

Bernays saw the PR counsel and industry as not just a representative for the press, but a communication symbol for the masses. This book is highly recommended for anyone interested in public relations, especially professional public relations officials and communications or business students. Discover the history behind the PR industry in this new edition of Bernays’s Crystallizing Public Opinion.

About the author

Edward L. Bernays is considered the pioneer of the public relations industry. Born in Austria, he and his family moved to New York City where his uncle Sigmund Freud, the famed psychoanalyst, worked. Though he originally started work in agriculture, after helping to gain endorsements of the play Damaged Goods, Bernays found his true calling. After WWI, he and his soon-to-be wife started their own public relations business. Their customers included the US War Department, the Lithuanian government, and Proctor & Gamble. Bernays authored the books Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923), Propaganda (1928), and Public Relations (1952).