Biography of an Idea: Memoirs of Public Relations Counsel Edward L. Bernays.

BERNAYS, Edward L.

$600.00

Item Number: 127872

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965.

First edition of the father of public relations’ biography. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Although not marked this is from the library of William Safire. William Safire was an important American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter. He joined Nixon’s campaign for the 1960 Presidential race, and again in 1968. After Nixon’s 1968 victory, Safire served as a speechwriter for him and Spiro Agnew. He authored several political columns in addition to his weekly column “On Language” in The New York Times Magazine from 1979 until the month of his death and authored two books on grammar and linguistics: The New Language of Politics (1968) and what Zimmer called Safire’s “magnum opus,” Safire’s Political Dictionary. Safire later served as a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board from 1995 to 2004 and in 2006 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush. Jacket design by Alfred Zalon.

The idea is Public Relations. The author is the pioneer who did more than anyone else to establish its principles, practices and ethics. The book is his autobiography, of which Eric Hodgins has written: [It] "is inextricably entwined with some of the most socially significant years this republic ever under-went," and about the author, "...you, of course are responsible for a considerable amount of the changes you record." A twentieth-century marketing visionary, Edward L. Bernays brilliantly combined mastery of the social sciences with a keen understanding of human psychology to become one of his generation’s most influential social architects. In Biography of an Idea, Bernays traces the formative moments of his career, from his time in the Woodrow Wilson administration as one of the nation’s key wartime propagandists to his consultancy for such corporate giants as Procter & Gamble, General Electric, and Dodge Motors. While working with the American Tobacco Company, Bernays launched his now-infamous Lucky Strike campaign, which effectively ended the long-standing taboo against women smoking in public. With his vast knowledge of the psychology of the masses, Bernays was in great demand, advising high-profile officials and counseling the tastemakers of his generation. His masterful and at times manipulative techniques had longstanding influences on social and political beliefs as well as on cultural trends. Biography of an Idea is a fascinating look at the birth of public relations—an industry that continues to hold sway over American society.