Robert Jay Lifton Discusses how His 1961 Book is Still Relevant Today.
Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton. The University of North Carolina Press has just reissued Lifton's classic 1961 book, "Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism." That book examined what's commonly been referred to as 'brain washing' as it was practiced in Communist China. Lifton says the book has new relevancy now in light of the rise of 'cult' religions and the recent pro-democracy movements in China and eastern Europe. Lifton has also studied the psychological effects of the Hiroshima bombing, and he's examined the mindset of the doctors who conducted human experiments for the Nazis during World War 2. (Interview by Sedge Thomson)
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