Edward L. Bernays’s Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923) is the first book to define the profession of public relations. Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, drew on psychology and social science to argue that opinion could be deliberately shaped by the “public relations counsel,” a new kind of adviser standing between organizations and the public.
Combining theory with practical method, the book lays out how the press, propaganda, and group psychology can be harnessed to influence attitudes on a mass scale. It is a foundational and frequently controversial text in the history of advertising, persuasion, and modern media. Download the free EPUB and read the work that helped invent twentieth-century PR.