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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Captive Minds: A Study of Manipulation

Captive Minds: A Study of Manipulation

Margalit, Avishai
Sharon, Assaf

Hardcover

PhilosophyGeneral Political Science

Publisher Price: $29.95

ISBN10: 0674303105
ISBN13: 9780674303102
Publisher: Belknap Press
Published: May 5 2026
Pages: 288
Weight: 1.22
Height: 0.91 Width: 6.35 Depth: 9.57
Language: English

From philosophers Avishai Margalit and Assaf Sharon, an erudite yet approachable inquiry into political manipulation and the grave threat it poses to human freedom today.

Manipulation is as old as history itself, yet Aldous Huxley's paraphrase of Churchill rings truer than ever: never have so many been manipulated so much by so few. Manipulation presents a clear danger to liberal democracy today. Demagogues undermine civic discussion, and propagandists and conspiracy theorists create cognitive traps that erode critical thinking.

What exactly is manipulation, and what sets it apart from other forms of influence? How does it differ from convincing, attracting, or nudging? Drawing on examples from mythology, literature, history, and politics, philosophers Margalit and Sharon argue that manipulation is not just a form of deceit and intellectual harm; it is, above all, an exercise of power. Manipulation exploits mental weaknesses and vulnerabilities with the goal of establishing control. Whereas liberal philosophers overlook manipulation, instead treating coercion as the primary form of political domination, Margalit and Sharon argue that manipulation should be seen as coercion's insidious counterpart in undermining human freedom.

Public support is fundamental to the legitimacy of government. Today, political manipulation is corrupting the formation and expression of public opinion, making manipulation a driving force of the global crisis of democratic decline. A timely work, but also a work for all times, Captive Minds stands as the definitive study of a pervasive threat to political freedom and the increasingly fragile institutions that sustain it.

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