Public Relations Playbook: Your Gold Mine of Insights (Fall 2023 revision & expansion)

A few years ago I had effusive praise for Tom Hagley's Public Relations Playbook when he first published it. Now, there's a recently revised and expanded edition that's even better. But sadly, the cover hasn't been updated along with the internal contents. -- It really needs a new cover design, or at least a new cover color or some other readily apparent indication that it's a substantially revised edition. -- As it now looks, you don't learn that it's been revised until you open the book and begin exploring it in detail.

Some chapters from the first edition and/or the previous second edition have been completely eliminated. Others were extensively re-written and moved to different sections of the book or were integrated into other chapters. And, several chapters are completely new, including, not surprisingly, some dealing with artificial intelligence.

Like its earlier editions, this book isn't meant to be a stand-alone, comprehensive textbook. It makes no attempt to tell readers everything they need to know about public relations or how it evolved or even why it's an important profession. It doesn't have that kind of scope or theoretical perspective. As the term "playbook" suggests, it's intended to tell readers how to perform some aspects of public relations. In an earlier time, before the term "playbook" migrated from the sports world and became a book marketing cliche, this volume might have been called a "handbook," or a "desktop reference," or a "field guide."

Some professors and their students may use The Playbook as a "supplementary textbook" which is very appropriate. It's just not comprehensive enough to stand-alone; it isn't a complete overview of the public relations profession. It covers a lot, but it does so in a piecemeal fashion. That's why it's a great companion and complement to many popular PR textbooks. It fills in gaps in those textbooks and many class lectures. And it also offers alternate perspectives.

Its Introduction says it's "a supplement that fills gaps in textbooks and lectures." In that respect, it's similar to this website. Beyond filling gaps, it offers alternative perspectives on various topics and practices and may explain why some textbook practices and tactics don't always work. In such cases, it might suggest new step-by-step solutions or urge readers to be self-reflective and creative in solving the problems for themselves.

Other teachers and public relations practitioners may see The Playbook as more of a handbook or guidebook than a supplemental textbook. They might even see it as akin to the once-beloved Dartnell's Public Relations Handbook which is now sadly out-of-date and largely useless in today's fast changing world of social media.

I won't bother describing the contents and difference between the four major parts of the book -- I already did that in my review of the earlier editions which you can find by scrolling further down in this document, -- However, I will say that the fourth part remains my favorite section. It's the most nitty-gritty in dealing with the day-to-day realities and tactics of performing public relations for various kinds of organizations. It also discusses the importance of public relations planning and offers tips on handling crisis situations.

Tom wrote most of the book himself but collaborated with other experienced professionals as co-authors on a few chapters. (In a spirit of full disclosure, I'm one of them, having collaborated on the chapter about government public relations.) Tom's expressed hope, and by extension, mine too, is that this book will help "students learn from the School of Experience ... rather than suffering through the School of Hard Knocks" on their own.

As a retired professor and former public relations practitioner, I think The Public Relations Playbook is a wonderful resource with a wealth of helpful information and perspective for beginning public relations practitioners. My sincere thanks to Tom Hagley for all the time, hard work, heart, and soul he's put into publishing it.

[1/11/2024]    

by Tom Hagley

       Independently published
       Available on Amazon.com starting January 2024

The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams

If your first course in public relations was anything like mine, it stressed the fact that public relations as a profession, and later as an academic discipline, didn't begin to emerge until the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century when people like Ivy Ledbetter Lee, George Creel, and, ultimately, Edward L. Bernays came on the scene. They, and a handful of others in this country and in the industrialized nations of Europe, developed business practices and established thinking patterns that helped to define and spread the emerging profession. But, they didn't create it from scratch. They refined it from existing concepts and built it upon practices and tactics of persuasion, sales, marketing, publicity, and press agentry. And, public relations textbooks acknowledge this. They also point out some precursors of public relations who tried to accomplish what were essentially public relations goals centuries before the profession existed.

Among the most-cited precursors are "the Founding Fathers" of the United States who spearheaded the American colonies' push for independence, fought the American Revolution, wrote the U.S. Constitution, and established the American dream. But, few PR texts identify specific "Founding Fathers." One that does is Public Relations: The Profession and the Practice by Baskin, Aronoff & Lattimore; which identifies Samuel Adams and says: "Adams was to the communication dimension of the Revolution what George Washington was to the military dimension. He recognized the value of using symbols that were easily identifiable and aroused emotions... (He also) used slogans that are still remembered, like 'Taxation without representation is tyranny.' " But, that's about as far as they go; little detail and no explanation of how he did it.

And, that's pretty much where things stood for the general reading public until last year when this new book by Stacy Schiff was published.

Its book jacket proclaims it as "A revelatory biography of arguably the most essential Founding Father – the one who stood behind the change in thinking that produced the American Revolution." -- And, at this point, I'm willing to accept that claim. Schiff's research and documentation appear to be excellent and exhaustive, and all her contentions are well-supported and logically developed. She also has a flair for telling the story in an interesting and easy to grasp manner, starting with the very first paragraph.

"Samuel Adams delivered what may count as the most remarkable second act in American life. It was all the more confounding after the first: he was a perfect failure until middle age. He found his footing at forty-one, when, over a dozen years, he proceeded to answer to Thomas Jefferson's description of him as truly the man of the Revolution." [p. 1]

From that starting point, Schiff proceeds through nearly 330 pages describing the last four decades of his life and "his transformation from aimless son of a well-off family to tireless, beguiling radical who mobilized the colonies." [book jacket]

Schiff is also quick to point out that despite his key leadership role and behind the scenes tactical maneuvering, Adams left very little permanent record of his planning, tactics, or personal reflections on what had happened, except for mostly anonymous "letters" he wrote and published in various colonial newspapers. His preference, according to Schiff, was "to fade into the background, to feel the pulses, sound the depths, and act through others." [p. 279] "Mostly he stage-managed, endlessly convening men so as to assign the roles they were to play. He spoke seldom but commanded profound attention when he did, not because he declaimed with force, but because, explained Jefferson, he was so rigorously logical, so clear in his views, abundant in good sense, and master always of his subject."

Elsewhere, she described him as operating "by stealth, melting into committees and crowd actions, pseudonyms and smoky back rooms." And, to emphasize this point, she quoted a light-hearted colleague: " There ought to be a memorial to Samuel Adams in the CIA, quips a modern historian, dubbing him America’s first covert agent." [p. 5]

Assessing his overall contribution to the American Revolution, Schiff described him as "a man who calculated what would be required to upend an empire and who – radicalizing men, women, and children, with boycotts and pickets, street theater, invented traditions, a news service, a bit of character assassination, and any number of innovative, extralegal institutions – led American history’s seminal campaign of civil resistance." Wow!

Surprisingly, much the same assessment of Adams was also delivered by some of his strongest enemies and nemeses who left permanent records of their views of Adams in their diaries, personal letters, and official reports filed to London authorities. One of the most vocal and credible was Thomas Hutchinson who went through several decades of almost daily verbal attacks from Adams while serving first as lieutenant-governor and eventually as governor of the Colony of Massachusetts, positions in which he answered to both King George and the British Parliament.

In addition to being a colonial administrator, Hutchinson was also a respected scholar and wrote a multi-volume history of the Colony of Massachusetts. It includes "capsule biographies of the so-called patriots" of America's Revolution which Schiff summarized as follows: "Samuel Adams was unimpressive... (in person, but) wrote with consummate talent."

Giving the devil his due, Hutchinson continued "but the determined spirit which he showed in the cause of liberty compensated for any number of flaws. It vastly exceeded that of anyone else in the province. Hutchinson deplored his bare-knuckle tactics but acknowledged his powers of persuasion: He made more converts to his cause by calumniating governors, and other servants of the Crown, than by strength of reasoning. He could blacken a character more effectively than anyone Hutchinson had ever met." [p. 194}

And, that thought brings me to the most disturbing and disappointing thing I learned about Samuel Adams. It's pretty baldly stated right on page two, but it's so short and unspecific that its full impact didn't hit me until much later when I was reading the detailed descriptions of how various situations had developed and what the opposing sides had to say about them. Schiff's observation about Adams on page two is: "he was unremittingly pragmatic. Adams saw no reason why high-minded ideals should shy from underhanded tactics." But, it took me a while and a couple of hundred pages of reading to really come to grips with what this meant.

The question of what kind of underhanded tactics Samuel Adams used wasn't terribly troubling to me during the early parts of the book, but that changed as they became more frequent, more blatant, and ultimately more egregious. So by the time I got to reading Thomas Hutchinson's capsule profile of Samuel Adams [p. 194] that said: "Adams seemed to have resolved the eternal Harvard College thesis question about ends justifying means," I knew exactly what he and Schiff both meant. And, I was appalled by it. All of the evidence indicates that Adams had no qualms about playing fast and loose with the truth when doing so would serve his purpose. He would flatly deny facts, or make them up. He would deny his own or other people's actions, and he never hesitated to spread lies that would destroy someone's good reputation.

Adams was a brilliant propagandist. But, so were Machiavelli, Joseph Goebbels, and Mao Tse-tung. And now that I see I must group Samuel Adams with those other three deceivers and prevaricators, I cannot commend or recommend him as a role model for public relations practitioners, just as I have never endorsed any of those others.

[8/20/2023]    

       by Stacy Schiff

       Little, Brown and Company
       New York; 2022

The Red Menace: How Lipstick Changed the Face of American History

The title Red Menace, in and of itself, is a great bit of wordplay and the book deserves recognition for that alone. However, while the phrase may have naturally suited the lexicon of public relations during the nineteenth century American Indian Wars or the Cold War years of the 1940s - 70s, it's a bit over the top as a reference to lipstick and the cosmetics industry.

And, even as I'm saying that, I'll admit that I may be a bit over the top myself to treat this book as if it had any significant relevance to public relations. -- It's certainly not a typical public relations book, and it won't make you a better public relations practitioner. -- But, it's easy and fun to read, and I do think it might give you a few things to think about regarding the public perception of women, women's rights, the nature and meaning of beauty, and the operation and expansion of the cosmetics industry, which is a big user of public relations talent and strategies.

The author herself doesn't make such claims or use those terms in her book, but she does talk plenty about appearances, image, and public acceptance, plus the pivotal role advertising has played in the growth and evolution of cosmetics and what she prefers to call "the beauty industry."

You should also know that she has been a copywriter for several major lines of cosmetics/beauty products in addition to having had articles and freelance writer credits in publications that include The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and The Washington Post. She has also been a sideshow performer and has appeared as part of a Cirque du Soleil troupe.

In the words of the book's dust jacket, "This engaging and entertaining history of lipstick will give readers a new view of the little tube's big place in modern America, from defining the middle class to building Fortune 500 businesses, to being present at Stonewall (the 1969 demonstration/riot that launched the gay rights movement), and being engineered for space travel.

The dust jacket continues: "From the provocative allure of a classic red lip to the powerful statement of drag, the American love affair with lipstick is linked to every aspect of our experience of gender, from venturing into the working world or running for the presidency."

Whoa! That was way too hyped and overly dramatic. But, it's the kind of language that makes this book so much fun to read. So what, if you have to take some of it, like the next quote I cite about lipstick's status at the end of World War II, with more than a grain of salt.

It's from pages 85-88: "Lipstick would emerge from World War II as a true American victory. In challenging its supply, the Axis powers had challenged everything we held dear: glamour, consumerism, abundance, and innovation. By beating the Axis powers back, we reclaimed it all and spread a powerful message globally... The luxury and identity of lipstick as part of the female experience had emerged triumphant and resplendent from the haze of war.

"With World War II fought and won, America would experience both peace and prosperity and the Cold War, which would pit everything capitalism had to offer against the threats (real and perceived) of communism. Lipstick would again find itself enlisted as an emblem and ally of the old red, white, and blue in its fight and would become even more central to American women of every race, class, and creed's sense of self."

Roughly 80 pages later, Carter wrapped up her book and the history of lipstick by saying: "Lipstick can be a small joy... It's a lens for viewing how far we've come and how far we still have to go. It embodies the heritage of the way we talk to women about their value and their wants; the priorities and the boundaries we give to race, class, and gender, and the power of purchase... We have imbued this little object with our big dreams of beauty, visibility, and mobility." (pp. 165-66)

That's why I think it might be a useful book for you to read. It won't give you any tips or tools that will make you a better public relations practitioner, but it might give you a new and different perspective on recent social and cultural history which won't hurt any of us. Besides, it's a quick, easy, and fun read.

[7/15/2023]    

       by Ilise S. Carter

       Prometheus Books (imprint of Rowman & Littlefield Publ.)
       Lanham, Maryland; 2021

The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact

The Power of Moments is a magical and captivating book from its cover illustration of lightning captured in a bottle to its last paragraph: "We can be the designers of moments that deliver elevation and insight and pride and connection. These extraordinary minutes and hours and days -- they are what make life meaningful. -- And they are ours to create." [p. 266] Both are extremely powerful and empowering notions.

After reading and carefully thinking about this book, I now believe that Chip and Dan Heath, the co-authors, have lived up to the hype and have actually delivered on these promises. More importantly, I think they can teach us how to do it, too.

Make no mistake, the Heath brothers are not public relations practitioners. Nor do they claim to teach anything about public relations. They are management consultants and college of business professors. Chip is on the faculty at the Stanford Graduate School of Business; Dan is a senior fellow at Duke University's CASE Center for Social Entrepreneurs. And, they have co-authored five organizational communication books that have made The New York Times best-seller lists.

Nonetheless, just like Made to Stick, another of their best-sellers I previously reviewed, the lessons of The Power of Moments are directly pertinent to public relations. And, also like Made to Stick, it begins with a simple realization that could have been made by anyone of us.

The first chapter, Defining Moments asserts: "We all have defining moments in our lives -- meaningful experiences that stand out in our memory. -- Many of them owe a great deal to chance: A lucky encounter with someone who becomes the love of your life. A new teacher who spots a talent you didn't know you had. A sudden loss that upends the certainties of your life. A realization that you don't want to spend one more day in your job. These moments seem to be the product of fate or luck or maybe a higher power's interventions. We can't control them." [pp. 4-5]

Then they offer an aha moment or turning point when they ask ... "But is that true? Must our defining moments just happen to us?" [p. 5]

The short and simple answers are: No and No. But, that's not the end of the story; just the beginning. The rest of the book helps readers understand what makes a memorable moment a defining moment, explains steps we can take to enrich those unexpected moments we encounter, and suggests ways to create new and special moments for everyone in our lives.

The overriding purpose of the book is wrapped up in a short but powerful paragraph: "Defining moments shape our lives, but we don't have to wait for them to happen. We can be the authors of them. What if a teacher could design a lesson that students were still reflecting on years later? What if managers knew exactly how to turn an employee's moment of failure into a moment of growth? What if you had a better sense of how to create lasting memories for your kids?" [p. 5]

The Power of Moments is nearly perfectly designed as a self-improvement book. It's easy to read if you just want to skim through it and get an overall feel for it and, since it's less than 300 pages, you can get through it pretty quickly. But, if you're a more thoughtful reader and analyze it as you go, it also works. It offers lots of points for self-reflection and suggestions for spinning off personalized scenarios and game plans. It also seems like it would be a great choice for a book club, whether the members discuss it all in one session or work through it section by section over a period of weeks.

However you approach it, I think you'll enjoy The Power of Moments, and I hope you'll be as enriched as I was by the inspirations it plants in your head. It's very nicely written, flows smoothly, and is spiced up by the Heath brothers' sometimes quirky, tongue-in-cheek humor.

Because it's so easy and pleasant to read, I won't recap it in detail. I'd rather that you read it for yourself in its full and original context.

I will, however, tell you that even a routine (but potentially memorable) moment can rise to the level of a "defining moment," something that can shape someone's life for years to come. But, it will only do this if it intrinsically has, or if someone (possibly you) somehow attaches, one or more of the four following traits to it.

• "ELEVATION -- Defining moments rise above the everyday... To construct elevated moments, we must boost sensory pleasure and, if appropriate, add an element of surprise...
• "INSIGHT -- Defining moments rewire our understanding of ourselves or the world. In a few seconds or minutes, we realize something that might influence our lives for decades...
• "PRIDE --Defining moments capture us at our best -- moments of achievement, moments of courage...
• "CONNECTION -- Defining moments are social... (and) strengthened because we share them with others." [pp. 12-14]

The book has an entire section -- 2-3 chapters each -- devoted to each of these traits or "elements" (the Heath brothers' preferred term). Beyond explaining what these elements are and why they're important, you'll learn how you can attach them to moments to magnify their importance, make them more socially encompassing, more memorable, and, possibly even raise them to the level of defining moments.

You'll also learn to be more alert to and adept at recognizing natural or spontaneous moments, including transitions, milestones, peaks, pits, and surprises, that inherently have a high potential for becoming memorable.

Do yourself a favor: read the book.

The last thing I'll offer as I send you back to your daily routine is a final quote from The Power of Moments. In fact, I'll make it into a personal challenge to you: "Defy the forgettable flatness of everyday work and life by creating a few precious moments." [p. 265]

[9/15/2021; edited: 11/26/2021]    

by Chip Heath & Dan Heath

       Simon & Schuster
       New York; 2017

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Made to Stick is particularly relevant to public relations practitioners because they spend so much of their professional life, like all communicators, struggling with the challenge of developing and delivering messages that will really hit home and remain fixed in the minds of their audiences. And, occasionally, they'll be faced with the opposite challenge: trying to drive something out of their audience's minds that has already been stuck there by someone else. In either case, they're trying to determine and work with whatever it is that makes ideas stick in people's minds.

Understanding this phenomenon -- why and how it works -- and teaching others about it has been the mission of Chip and Dan Heath, who wrote this book, for more than two decades. In addition to being brothers, they are management consultants and college professors. Chip is on the faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business; Dan is a senior fellow at Duke University's CASE Center for social entrepreneurs. In addition to Made to Stick, they have co-authored five other organizational communication books that been on The New York Times best-seller lists.

Even before you reach the first page, the book's dust jacket highlights the paradox of trying to deal with the concept of stickiness as it applies to ideas: "Urban legends, conspiracy theories, and bogus public-health scares circulate effortlessly. Meanwhile, people with important ideas -- businesspeople, teachers, politicians, journalists, and others -- struggle to make their ideas "stick". Why do some ideas thrive while others die?" Phrased another way: Are ideas born interesting or made interesting?" [p. 5]

To put their work in perspective, you should know that the Heath brothers, particularly Chip who is 10 years older than Dan, were studying and researching these questions even before Malcolm Gladwell's book The Tipping Point was published in 2000. But, they became immediate fans of it when they saw how Gladwell's interests aligned with their own. (Personally, I also liked Gladwell's book, but I had previously taken a somewhat narrower view of it and thought of it as primarily focusing on fads and technological innovations.)

More broadly, and more accurately, The Tipping Point dealt with identifying and explaining what makes an idea, or a phrase or slogan, or a phenomenon (including, but not limited to, a new technology) "tip," i.e., to suddenly "explode" and leap from being virtually unknown to being wildly popular and used by everyone. -- In terms of ideas and slogans, think of "Remember the Alamo." or "Hell no! We won't go." or "global warming" or "Black lives matter." In terms of physical objects, think of television in the 1950s, PCs in the 1980s, or smart phones in the 2000s.

According to the second part of Gladwell's book titled "The Stickiness Factor,", one of the reason some things reach a "tipping point" while others don't is their inherent "stickiness." -- How memorable they are and how quickly and accurately people can recall them. -- However, Gladwell himself wasn't concerned about what made these ideas or objects sticky. That issue was beyond the scope of his book. All he wanted his readers to be do was realize that some things were more sticky than others and, therefore, more likely to tip than things which weren't sticky.

In contrast, what made things sticky was then, and still is, the central focus of the Heaths' research and writing. Ironically, though, when The Tipping Point came out, the Heath brothers had not yet started using the term "sticky." But, after reading Gladwell, they acknowledged, applauded, and began citing his 's work. Dan realized "stickiness was the perfect word for the attribute that he was chasing with his research into the marketplace of ideas." [p. 13]

With this new term to guide them, they explored the work of "dozens of folklorists, psychologists, educational researchers, political scientists, and proverb-hunters." [p. 15] What they compiled was a list of six key traits that alone or in combination tend to make ideas "sticky." Although firmly asserting, "There is no formula for a sticky idea -- we don't want to overstate the case," they say having one or more of these traits is likely to make an idea at least somewhat sticky: [pp. 16-18]

• "Simplicity -- Saying something short is not the mission -- sound bites are not the ideal. Proverbs are the ideal. We must create ideas that are both simple and profound.
• "Unexpectedness -- We can use surprise -- an emotion whose function is to increase alertness and cause focus -- to grab people's attention. But surprise doesn't last. For our idea to endure, we must generate interest and curiosity.
• "Concreteness -- We must explain our ideas in terms of human action, in terms of sensory information. ... In proverbs, abstract truths are often encoded in concrete language: 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.'
• "Credibility -- We need ways to help people test our ideas for themselves -- 'a try before you buy' philosophy for the world of ideas. Maybe something like President Ronald Reagan's suggestion: 'Before you vote, ask yourself if you are better off today than you were four years ago.'
• "Emotions -- Research shows that people are more likely to make a charitable gift to a single needy individual than to an entire impoverished region. We are wired to feel things for people, not for abstractions.
• "Stories -- Hearing stories acts as a kind of mental flight simulator, preparing us to respond more quickly and effectively."

The bulk of the book is devoted to fleshing out these six traits, explaining them and citing vivid and wonderful examples. Most are successful examples. There are, however, some very insight examples of attempts at being sticky that went awry or didn't work out quite as they were expected to. There are also discussions of how these traits can interact with one another and/or be influenced by situational circumstances. Many of them are quite notable and have proven that they can stick, at least in my mind.

But, I'm not going to repeat them here. The book itself is easy to read and is also quite well-written, so it deserves to be read in full and in context rather than being over-excerpted here.

I'll also caution you that this book does not offer ready-to-use and easy to apply templates or how-to-do-it checklists, so don't waste your time looking for them. It also won't give you pat answers to your questions. What it will give you is a lot to digest and think about, insights that could help you as you're going about your work as a communicator and public relations practitioner. And, in time, if you keep it in mind and periodically re-examine it, I expect it will ultimately help you be a better, more effective, and more efficient practitioner.

Let me share just one more closing quote with you. "For an idea to stick, for it to be useful and lasting, it's got to make the audience:

1. Pay attention.
2. Understand and remember it.
3. Agree/Believe.
4. Care.
5. Be able to act on it.

"This book could have been organized around these five steps, but there's a reason they were reserved for the conclusion. The Curse of Knowledge can render this framework useless." [p. 246]
If you want to learn about the Curse of Knowledge, (The Heath boys always capitalize it "to give it the drama we think it deserves.") read the book. I think you'll find it worthwhile.

[5/4/2021]    

by Chip Heath & Dan Heath

       Random House
       New York; 2008

Public Relations Playbook: Your Gold Mine of Insights

 
No longer just for students as
the previous edition (Shown below, not to scale.)
seemed to be.

The Public Relations Playbook has evolved from the book formerly known as The Public Relations Student Playbook, and I'm delighted to see it has adopted this new name. I never thought its value was limited to students, and I didn't like seeing it labeled as if it was meant only for students.

Although The Playbook has a lot to offer students, I think it is even more valuable to relatively inexperienced public relations professionals who are early in their careers. Such young, working practitioners -- particularly those with five years or less of public relations experience who encounter unfamiliar situations they have to immediately address -- are in far more need of quick, easy-to-understand guidance than most student are. They're the ones who will benefit most from having this Playbook available as a desktop reference.

But, regardless of its name and the current status of whomever is using it, this new, 484 page Playbook will be a wide-ranging, extremely useful and insightful tool for any newcomer to public relations work. Compared to the earlier version, it includes 15 completely new chapters, totaling more than 90 pages, in addition to the updates and revisions in other chapters.

Some students and professors may use The Playbook as a "supplementary textbook." That's very appropriate; it's really not comprehensive or detailed enough to serve as a stand-alone textbook. It doesn't, for instance, offer a complete overview of public relations or even of a particular sub-section of the discipline. While it covers a lot of the territory, it does it in a piecemeal fashion rather than following a logical framework. It is, however, a great companion to many of the most popular PR textbooks. It fills in some of the typical gaps in these textbooks and in many class lectures by addressing topics that weren't mentioned at all or were only superficially glossed over. And sometimes, it offers alternate perspectives on topics that may have been covered but adds additional explanation of why a particular strategy or tactic did or didn't work in a given situation. And, sometimes, it lays out step-by-step, how-to instructions readers can apply to their own situations. It also urges readers to reflect on their own experiences and suggests ways of performing a guided self-evaluation.

Other teachers and public relations practitioners may see The Playbook as more of a handbook, guidebook, or deskbook than a textbook. They might even see it as akin to the once-beloved Dartnell's Public Relations Handbook which is now sadly out-of-date and largely useless in today's fast changing world of social media.

Tom Hagley, the author, describes The Playbook as "a collection of teaching points" that students he met during his ten years of teaching college-level public relations said they needed or wanted to learn about. That's why he drew on his 30 years of experience as a public relations professional -- Most notably as vice president and general manager of Hill & Knowlton Public Relations division in Portland, Oregon, as the northwest regional public relations manager for Alcoa, and as the director of public and investor relations for Alumax Inc. (Atlanta). -- to write and publish it.

Tom wrote most of the book himself but collaborated with other experienced professionals as co-authors on a few chapters. (In a spirit of full disclosure, I must admit that I collaborated on the chapter about government public relations.) His expressed hope is that the lessons in this book will help "students learn from the School of Experience" represented by him and his collaborators rather than suffering through "the School of Hard Knocks" on their own.

Previously, the book consisted of only three sections. The new, expanded edition has had an additional section inserted.

Part I deals with public relations as a whole. It touches on the underlying purpose, philosophy, history, and current status of the profession. In many ways, -- some subtle; some much more direct -- it encourages readers to ask themselves if public relations is really the most appropriate and most suitable career choice for them.

Part II is less conceptual and more concerned with helping aspiring practitioners successfully complete their public relations studies and move into and through their first few entry-level positions. If you're one of them, it can help you assess yourself and your professional performance so you present yourself in the best possible light to supervisors and prospective employers. Even more important, it will encourage you to be honest with yourself about your professional development. The author wants you to view the book as "a companion" that you keep close by when you're dealing with public relations matters, especially "when you are deep in thought about a situation, an action, a difficult decision, a worrisome or burdensome challenge," or feel that you need to be nudged forward.

Part III which is called "Professor Candello Interviews" is the new section added in this edition. It encompasses 12 of the 15 new chapters mentioned earlier. Each one is a transcript of a "magazine-style interview" Dr. Candello of Arizona State University conducted with the author in front of an audience of college students. The eclectic topics they discussed were specifically chosen to meet the needs and interests of those particular students and ran the gamut from issue management to artificial intelligence, measurable results to budgets and billing, and online community engagement, with several others sandwiched in between.

Part IV, however, is the longest section. It's also my personal favorite because it's the most nitty-gritty part of the book. It deals with the day-to-day realities and tactics of performing public relations for different types of organizations -- non-profits, government agencies, and educational institutions as well as profit-centered businesses -- in a variety of different settings. It also explains how to develop a public relations strategic plan from doing the initial research and establishing a network of contacts, through writing and producing various types of projects. It also offers tips for dealing with crisis situations. And, through it all, it stresses the need to develop your own personal and professional relationships at the same time you're working to enhance your employer and/or your client's relationships.

Speaking as a retired professor and a former public relations practitioner, myself, I think The Public Relations Playbook is a wonderful resource with a wealth of helpful information and perspective for beginning public relations practitioners, and I thank Tom Hagley for all the time, hard work, and heart and soul he's put into publishing it.

My only criticism remains its current lack of an index. -- Although, Tom has assured me the next edition will have one. -- In the meantime, without an index, readers are somewhat in the dark about which topics, tools, people, and incidents are actually discussed in the book and which aren't. Short of reading the book cover to cover, their only clues come from skimming the table of contents and, with 83 chapters, that's neither quick nor easy. In fact, it's rather frustrating given the obliqueness of some of the chapter titles. Some are pretty straight-forward and clearly reveal what the chapter is about, e.g., Chapter 41. Preparing to write a public relations plan or Chapter 50. Improve your public relations writing in 16 controllable ways. Others aren't. Chapter 18. Shape your character by design and Chapter 78. Think of donors as 'lost patrons,' for instance, are a bit vague. And, still others seem to be more intent on being cute than being informative, e.g., Chapter 23. Shud job inerviews inclood spelling tests? and Chapter 59. 'Supreme' lesson in writing testimony.

Note that I'm not complaining about the content of these chapters, or any of the others, for that matter. -- Most of the chapters are actually quite good and include relevant, informative, and well-written information. Some are exceptionally well-done. -- It's just that some of their titles make it difficult to know what's included in them. and in the book as a whole, without reading the book from cover to cover.

However, that may not be a bad thing to do. -- There's a lot of worthwhile information to be found in it.

[revised, based on the new edition: 4/15/2021]    

by Tom Hagley Sr.

       Independently Published
       Available on Amazon.com; starting Feb. 2021

The Ministry of Truth: The Biography of George Orwell's 1984

George Orwell's novel 1984 is not a public relations book in any way, so reading it will not make you a more effective public relations practitioner. However, using it as a blueprint, as some recent White House communicators did, will make you a horrible public relations practitioner. That's what makes it an appropriate topic here on this website.

It's now been a few years since I posted on the homepage of this site that 1984 was no longer merely a fictional threat. It was a living, breathing threat to Americans because President Trump's White House minions, especially the communication staff headed by Kellyanne Conway and ineptly abetted by co-conspirators Sean Spicer and sarah Huckabee Sanders, seemed to have adopted the entire playbook of 1984's Ministry of Truth as their operations guide. That assessment seems as true today as it was then.

The Ministry of Truth is the fictitious government agency that loomed throughout 1984, providing information to all the newspapers, films, textbooks, telescreen programs, and other media outlets helping Big Brother and his party of true believers stay in power. Among the Ministry's most well-know slogans were:

• "War is peace."
•  "Freedom is slavery." and
•  "Ignorance is strength."

In the real world of Washington, D.C. from Inauguration Day 2017 through January 2021, President Trump's White House staff brought 1984 to life and blithely bombarded us with "alternative facts" that had no basis in reality and no evidence to support them. Like the three statements above, many of them were demonstrably false oxymorons. But, President Trump wanted us to automatically accept and believe them whether he personally spoke or tweeted them or had his minions do it for him.

Sadly, his "true believers" swallowed, echoed, and supported whatever he said without regard for truth, verification, ethical standards, or human decency. And, many of these utterances precisely fit Orwell's definition of "doublespeak." It's mildly disturbing to read such things in a novel, but it was downright appalling and frightening to hear them come from the President of the United States, his staff, and his followers.

It was against this background that I became aware of Dorian Lynskey's book. Its subtitle, "The Biography of George Orwell's 1984" was particularly intriguing. It's not a biography of Orwell; it's a biography of the book he wrote. -- What an interesting concept!

According to the book jacket, Lynskey addresses 1984's "literary sources, its composition by Orwell, its deep and lasting effect on the Cold War, and its vast influence throughout world culture at every level." That's a lot to cover but, after reading it, I'm convinced Lynskey did just that. And, it's fascinating!

"Nineteen Eighty-Four has not just sold tens of millions of copies; it has infiltrated the consciousness of countless people who have never read it. The phrases and concepts that Orwell minted have become essential fixtures of political language, still potent after decades of use and misuse: Newspeak, Big Brother, the Thought Police, Room 101, the Two Minutes Hate, doublethink, unperson, memory hole, telescreen, 2 + 2 = 5, and the Ministry of Truth. ... No work of literary fiction from the past century approaches its cultural ubiquity while retaining its weight." [p. xiv]

Like most American baby-boomers who grew up during the Cold War, my first exposure to 1984 was in high school. And, like most of my generation, I was quick to accept that it was meant to be a cautionary tale about the horrendous fate that might befall us if the Soviet Union became the dominant world power. -- A false but very wide-spread belief that remains popular today. -- However, when I studied 1984 once again in graduate school, I came to realize that Orwell was not warning us of a Soviet threat. He was a life-long Socialist and a dedicated anti-Fascist who feared that even democracies could be transformed into totalitarian states. Indeed, this is one of the central themes of Lynskey's book. He introduces it by quoting one of Orwell's personal letters: "Every line of serious work I have written since 1936 has been written directly or indirectly against totalitarianism and for democratic Socialism, as I understand it." [p. 19]

"Orwell didn’t say much about Nineteen Eighty-Four, but what he did say, very firmly, was that it was not a prophecy. A satire, a parody and a warning, yes, but not that." He also said: "I do not believe that the kind of society which I described necessarily will arrive, but I believe ... that something resembling it could arrive." [p. 234]

In addition to summarizing what Orwell wrote and thought, Lynskey describes his life experiences that included being a tramp in England, a dish-washer in Paris, a journalist and war correspondent, a book reviewer and commentator for the BBC, a revolutionary freedom fighter during the Spanish Civil War, and a successful best-selling author and public speaker. Lynskey carefully describes each of these experiences, sometimes in greater detail than is actually needed, and then explains how each of them shaped and infused Orwell's writing.

For example, Lynskey admits, "It is unclear whether Orwell went to Spain to fight and ended up writing as well, or vice versa." One elderly Spaniard Lynskey interviewed "remembered Orwell walking into his office and declaring, 'I have come to Spain to join the militia to fight against Fascism.' But, in Homage to Catalonia, Orwell’s finest non-fiction book, Orwell suggests that the journalism came first. Either way, within only a few days he had decided to do both." [p. 12]

Equally important, Lynskey provides a literary context for 1984 by tracing the evolution of previous utopian and dystopian novels as well as citing other best-sellers that were popular when Orwell was writing. He also gave a lot of attention to H.G. Wells and Aldous Huxley, both of whom heavily influenced Orwell, not just because they were successful writers but because they were his personal friends as well.

Lynskey's discussion of Huxley's Brave New World is particularly interesting. "Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four are awkward literary twins. Most readers discover them around the same age, in a kind of two-for-one deal on classic dystopias, and therefore see them as rival prophecies, as if both authors were, at the same point in time, given the same brief to predict the future, and now we have to decide which was the more accurate. Pleasure or punishment? Sex or death? A hit of soma or a boot in the face? Who got it right?" [p. 74]

"Orwell admired Brave New World, up to a point. He had fond memories of being taught by Huxley at Eton in 1918... But as someone who was fearful of pain and suspicious of pleasure, he was unconvinced by Brave New World’s tyranny of gratification... So both writers found each other’s version of a bleak future implausible. The similarities are negligible, the differences profound, but the two books do overlap in one area: the status of the proles." [p. 76]

In wrapping up his book, Lynskey observed: "Nineteen Eighty-Four is about many things, and its readers’ concerns dictate which one is paramount at any point in history. During the cold war, it was a book about totalitarianism. In the 1980s, it became a warning about invasive technology. Today, it is most of all a defence of truth." [p. 265]

"Nineteen Eighty-Four remains the book we turn to when truth is mutilated, language is distorted, power is abused, and we want to know how bad things can get." [p. xiii]

I've often recommended 1984 as an absolute must-read for any thoughtful adult. From this point on, I'm also going to recommend Lynskey's The Ministry of Truth as an ideal companion piece to provide context and assessment for 1984. It's an insightful and thought-provoking read.

[2/13/2020; rev'd: 5/1/2021]    

by Dorian Lynskey

       Doubleday
       New York; 2019

Barnum: An American Life

As much as some contemporary public relations practitioners would like to, Phineas Taylor Barnum -- more often referred to as P. T. Barnum -- cannot be ignored or down-played in the history of public relations or, for that matter, in the history of the United States. He was one of the richest and best known Americans of the second half of the 19th century.

According to Robert Wilson, this book's author, "Americans often saw him (Barnum) as an exemplar of what it meant to be one of them, and the Europeans he encountered on his many trips abroard also saw him as a representative of the American character... Through hard work, a lot of brass, and a genius for exploiting the new technologies related to communication and transportation, he became world famous and wealthy beyond his dreams." [p. 7]

This book isn't the first, or even the second, third, or fourth, biography of Barnum. There have been dozens of them, as well as three autobiographies. Barnum wrote the first one when he was only 44 years old. He wrote the second, a greatly expanded version, 14 years later. The third, a more legacy-minded version written just two years before his death, includes an appended final chapter written by his widow.

So, you might ask, is this book even necessary? -- Wilson apparently asked the same question and was answered by another Barnum scholar and author, Neil Harris who wrote a 1973 book entitled Humbug. Its focus wasn't limited to Barnum but offered a much broader view of social and cultural history. Harris told Wilson: "Each generation seems to need its own new take on Barnum" to match the shifting perspectives and values that are apart of its new age. [p. 288]

What's different about Wilson's book? -- First, it's much more balanced than many of the earlier books about Barnum. It's not a paean of praise from an idolizing fan of Barnum. Nor is it a vitriolic rant spewing from a rabid critic. Like me, Wilson apparently believed there were already too many of these extreme treatments and that someone needed to counteract or at least moderate the predominantly negative light that's been cast on Barnum in recent decades. His introduction to the book says: "We live in an ahistorical age, one that is quick to condemn historical figures using the standards of the present. We too easily dismiss them for their worst qualities even if they are counterbalanced or even heavily outweighed by their best qualities. Barnum's reputation today has fallen so far that his name often evokes comparisons to scoundrels... But this doesn't do justice to the full story of who he was." [pp. 7-8] This book seems intent on restoring some of that balance and presenting a more complete picture of Phineas Taylor Barnum.

Barnum was born in 1810. By the mid-1840s, he had made himself nationally and internationally known. And, he remained constantly in the public spotlight as a business man, author, public speaker, and civic activist until he died in 1891. His best-known and longest-lasting legacy was the Barnum and Bailey Circus which he dubbed "The Greatest Show on Earth." Although he died only a decade after it began touring, the circus continued to flourish long after his death. In 1919, it was merged into The Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus and continued to tour the United States every year until 2017.

But, the circus wasn't Barnum's only claim to fame. Decades before founding his circus, Barnum was established as one of the greatest showmen and entertainment promoters of all time. He achieved this prominence by making international celebrities of Tom Thumb, a young boy he passed off as a sophisticated adult "little person;" Jenny Lind, an opera singer he brought to worldwide fame as the Swedish Nightingale; Joice Heth whom he touted as George Washington's 160-year old nanny; Mme Josephine Clofullia, a bearded lady who eventually went to court to prove she wasn't a man; and Chang and Eng, a pair of adult conjoined Siamese twins. He also turned numerous non-humans into celebrities, including Jumbo the Elephant whom he imported from the London Zoo despite Queen Victoria's objections; the "Feejee Mermaid," a desiccated, semi-mummified corpse he claimed had been a beautiful, full-breasted mermaid but which looked like a monkey head and torso sewn onto the lower-half of a large fish; and hundreds of exotic living animals he had collected and shipped to the U.S. from all over the world.

There was no denying the reality of his American Museum or of Madison Square Garden or of his exotic animals or of performers like Jenny Lind, but many of the other attractions he promoted and exhibited were, by his own admission, "humbugs," objects that weren't quite what they were advertised as being. -- For instance, most patrons quickly realized the Fejee Mermaid wasn't really an actual mermaid and that Joice Heth wasn't really 160 years old. Some, in fact, even came back to see them again after figuring out they were fakes.

Even when he was promoting such things and trying to sell tickets, Barnum sometimes called himself "the Prince of Humbugs" and admitted that he sometimes resorted to "mildly deceitful ways" of getting people into his shows. But, he said, and apparently believed, that such "humbuggery" -- stunts, schemes, and performances that fooled thousands of people and helped him earn tens of thousands of dollars -- was all in good fun. The outlandish claims he made were, he said, completely tongue-in-cheek and meant to entertain the public. And, perhaps surprisingly when looked at from today's vantage point, most of the people who paid to see these shows agreed with him. They said Barnum's humbugs were so much fun that it was worth paying the admission price to see them.

Barnum's critcs, however, -- And, there were many. -- called these activities fraud or hoaxes and bitterly condemned Barnum for perpetrating them.

No one, however, denied his ability to attract audiences, to stage spectacular events, or to turn a previously-unknown person into a celebrity. And, for decades after his death, well into the 20th century, that's how he was remembered by both the general public and the public relations profession.

But, in the 1970s and `80s when political correctness began to assert itself and public relations practitioners became overly concerned with their professional image, they began looking more and more askance at P.T. Barnum and tried to distance themselves and their profession from him. Largely because of the assertion "There's a sucker born every minute," a statement attributed to Barnum but which there is no evidence he ever said, he was retroactively made an outcast and no longer recognized for his contributions to the emergence of public relations as a profession.

Wilson explains: "The cynical saying implies that he was no better than a huckster, whose chief goal was using fast talk to trick people out of their money while giving them nothing in return... but no evidence exists that he ever wrote or spoke them. What's worse, they utterly misrepresent the man as he really was." [p. 3]

If you want to know more about the man that P.T. Barnum really was, -- And, if you're a public relations practitioner, I think you should want to know this. -- I urge you to read this book for yourself. It is a well-balanced biography that reveals a full-picture of the subject, his warts as well as his beaming smile and his missteps and shortcomings as well as his accomplishments. It also includes information that was only recently uncovered about Barnum's second marriage, about his political career that included being defeated by his cousin (also named Barnum)in an unsuccessful run for the U.S. House of Representatives, and the philanthropic bequests he made in his will. It has clearly displaced The Fabulous Showman: The Life and Times of P.T. Barnum by Irving Wallace that had previously been my favorite biography of Barnum and the inspiration for Barnum, the 1986 movie starring Burt Lancaster.

Wilson, the author of this biography, is editor of The American Scholar magazine and a former book editor and columnist for USA Today. He has also written biographies of Mathew Brady, the Civil War era photographer, and Clarence King, the first director of the United States Geological Survey.

[1/19/2020]    

by Robert Wilson

       Simon & Schuster
       New York & London; 2019

LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media

Given the plethora of articles in public relations, business, as well as popular magazines and blogs that talk about the need to master social media if you want to stay in touch with your friends, customers and the public, I couldn't ignore a book titled LikeWar that focused on the "weaponization" of social media. So, I immediately got hold of a copy and began reading it.

Now that I have read it, I'm conflicted. Part of me is glad I read it. At the same time, I can't get LikeWar out of my mind, and much of what it says is very distressing. Make no mistake, I now have a much better understanding of social media and their ramifications. Regrettably, this knowledge now makes today's world of social media seem a much scarier and more dangerous place than I previously believed it to be.

This should not be interpretted as a criticism of the book. -- That would be too much like killing the messenger. -- LikeWar is a critically important and wonderfully written book. It's well-researched and highly documented. It is also very readable. Even more critical given its over-arching theme, it is not one-sided; it is well-balanced and thoughtfully presents a wide range of differing personal and political viewpoints, a balance that is necessary to accurately assess social media.

Social media are neither one-dimensional, nor all-good, nor all-bad. These assertions are true in terms of both how they operate and in terms of their impact on individual users and on society as a whole. They are high-tech communication tools that enhance our abilities to interact with other people and, like all other communication tools, they can be used for good or ill. And, they can have a wide-range of widely varying effects.

Social media have brought a wealth of important and useful information to us in a timely and inexpensive way. They have also allowed all manner of people to interact with one another in ways that had previously been nearly-impossible or extremely difficult and/or incredibly expensive. They have brought many blessings of technology to us and, hopefully, will bring even more in the future. At the same time, they are a curse. They can quickly and easily spread false information (fake news), plant doubts, create suspicion, destroy reputations, and spark angry and violent reactions that could incite riots, wars, suicides, and other destructive behavior.

It's not a stretch to think of them as a genii that's gotten out of its bottle and is running amok, or, even more fatalistically, as a Pandora's box that is now fully opened.

As Singer and Brooking see it: "Those who can manipulate this swirling tide (social media), to steer its direction and flow, can accomplish incredible good. They can free people, expose crimes, save lives, and seed far-reaching reforms. But they can also accomplish astonishing evil. They can foment violence, stoke hate, sow falsehoods, incite wars, and even erode the pillars of democracy itself." [p. 23]

"Through the weaponization of social media, the internet is changing war and politics," the book's jacket proclaims. "Terrorists livestream their attacks. Twitter wars produce real-world casualties, and viral disinformation alters not just the flow of battles, but the very fate of nations. ... war, tech, and politics have blurred into a new kind of battlespace that plays out on our smartphones."

And, it is not just happening in America. Numerous conflicts of varying intensity and body-counts have used social media as weapons all around the world in the last two decades.

One of the bloodiest was a 2014 campaign in northern Iraq launched by ISIS. "Far from keeping their operations a secret," which would have been a traditional military strategy, ISIS "... made sure everyone knew about it. There was a choreographed social media campaign to promote it, organized by die-hard fans and amplified by an army of Twitter bots. They posted selfies of black-clad militants and Instagram images of convoys that looked like Mad Max come to life. There was even a smartphone app, created so jihadi fans following along at home could link their social media accounts in solidarity, boosting the invaders' messages even further." [pp. 4-5]

Other countries have also been affected. The Arab Spring uprisings that spread through several middle-eastern nations in 2011 were probably the widest-reaching. "The deadliest Indian terror attack in a generation" occurred in Mumbai in 2006. The Rohingya people faced genocide in Myanmar. And, even though the body count wasn't as high, don't forget the violent responses of both the supporters and opponents of Rodrigo Duterte during his presidential campaign and election in the Philippines in 2016. All were fed and spread by widespread use of social media.[p. 62]

So was "what became known as financial jihad." It wasn't just an effort to spark anger or get people motivated to go out into the streets; it was pure and simple fund-raising to benefit terrorism. "Much as you might sponsor your cousin's 'fun run' to fight cancer, you couild sponsor a rocket-propelled launcher for a Syrian rebel (It cost $800.). Or you could back the rebels' opponents. Hezbollah, the Iranian-sponsored terror group that allied with the Syrian regime, ran an 'equip a mujahid' campaign on Facebook and Twitter." [p. 65]

Closer to home for Americans, gang violence in many cities has taken on a new dimension since the spread of smartphones. "Chicago has famously become the epicenter of a new kind of battle that we would call 'war' in any other nation," according to Singer and Brooking. "More people were killed by gang violence in 2017 in Chicago than in all U.S. special operations forces across a decade's worth of fighting in Iraq and then Syria. At the center of the strife is social media. ... Much of this violence starts with gangs' use of social media to 'cybertag' and 'cyberbang.' ... These online skirmishes escalate quickly... and not just in killings; 80 percent of the fights that break out in Chicago schools are now instigated online." [pp. 12-13]

And, let's not forget the intense, near-rabid reactions, both pro and con, to President Trump's use of Twitter. His social media efforts "to rebrand himself and then win the White House was not just a marketing or political campaign; it was also a globe-spanning information conflict fought by hundred of millions of people across dozens of social media platforms." [p. 4]

All of this, but especially the Trump impact, should have taught us something and alerted us to the danger. But, "the American election system remains remarkably vulnerable, not merely to hacking of the voting booth, but also to the foreign manipulation of U.S. voters, political dialogue, and beliefs. Ironically, although the United States has contributed millions of dollars to help nations like Ukraine safeguard their citizens against these new threats, political paralysis has prevented the U.S. government from taking meaningful steps to innoculate its own population." [p. 264]

The book's threatening conclusion is: "Until this (social media interference in our election process) is reframed as a nonpartisan issue ... the United States will remain at grave risk." [p. 264] This should scare every one of us. We can no longer take social media for granted or ignore their effects and their power.

I urge you to read this book carefully and critically and then tell other people about it.

[revd. 7/04/2019]    

by P.W. Singer & Emerson T. Brooking

       Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
       New York & Boston; 2018

The Battle for Christmas    &
 
Inventing Christmas: How Our Holiday Came to Be

How do you view Christmas traditions? -- Most people seem to hold one of two divergent views of Christmas "customs" like Santa Claus, Christmas trees, caroling, and miniature replicas of Christ's nativity scene. Some sentimentally revere them as long-standing, perhaps even ancient, traditions that are rooted in religion, family values, and national or ethnic culture. Others, often claiming to be pragmatists, sneer at these so-called traditions and characterize them as manipulative commercialism that is being foisted upon us by greedy merchants who are trying to encourage us to buy extravagant Christmas gifts for one another. The truth probably lies somewhere between these extremes.

For starters, many Christmas traditions are neither as ancient nor as deeply rooted in folklore and religion as we were led to believe. A great many of them date to the second-half of the 19th or early 20th century. Additionally, there is no doubt that a number of the more-recent "traditions" have at least been commercially exploited by advertisers and public relations practitioners if not wholly concocted by them.

If you're still in doubt and are trying to figure out where you stand on these issues, one or both of these books may help. Each, in its own way, offers a thoughtful perspective on Christmas traditions and celebrations. Elliott's book is the more humanist and nostalgic of the two. Nissenbaum's is the more analytic and scholarly.

Nissenbaum's book is predominantly text and approaches everything in much more depth and detail than Elliott's. It is, by far, the more serious of the two and the one you'll want to read if you're interested in doing serious research. It's definitely scholarly and was very well-researched and documented. And, it apparently expects readers to approach it seriously and studiously as well. It thoroughly and carefully explores each topic it tackles. -- Perhaps, a little too thoroughly at time. In some places, it becomes rather slow-going and almost ponderous. -- And, it includes very few illustrations.

by Stephen Nissenbaum

       Vintage Books (Knopf Doubleday Publishing).
       New York; 1997

Unlike Nissenbaum's book which is meant to be studied with care and will probably only be read once, Elliott's book is truly a "coffee table book." It's over-sized, has glossy pages, loads of great illustrations, and a limited amount of text. That makes it much easier and more fun to read, which is what most people expect of a good "coffee table book."

This one can be brought out at Christmas each year and prominently displayed where family and visitors can casually thumb through it, reading tid-bits on a hit-or-miss basis. It offers an overview of Christmas traditions rather than an in-depth exploration and history of them. In short, it's more family-friendly than pedantic.

It's also important to understand that neither of these authors is particularly interested in the role of public relations in developing of Christmas traditions. Neither offers any step-by-step analysis of what or why various public relations or advertising practitioners did, but there are plenty of public relations insights if you look for them.

These books have been around for about two decades and have stood the test of time and the challenges of their critics. They remain popular and respected resources and are definitely worth reading.

[12/07/2018]      

by Jock Elliott

       Harry N. Abrams:
       New York; 2002

Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself while the Rest of Us Die

If Donald Trump wasn't in the White House, this might be the hottest book in Washington and the one most likely to shape a re-examination of America's commitment to itself and to the future. Alas, the revelations and scary implications that Raven Rock reveals have been largely overshadowed by the drama and horrors now playing out in the Trump presidency.

Let me confess: this is not a book about public relations. That's not why I've included it here. It is, however, a book that I think is important enough for every citizen, including public relations practitioners, to read and think about. Its topic and circumstances affect every one of us and could ultimately affect what kind of future we and our children may have. For this reason, I think the public relations practitioners among us should get busy getting the word out and helping the government to present these issues for everyone's consideration.

Graff's story begins in the aftermath of World War II, soon after the genii of atomic weapons had been released from the bottle. Almost immediately dire predictions began and doomsday scenarios became a recurring nightmare. Along with them came the hopeful, and possibly hopelessly naive, believers in survivable nuclear war who touted fallout shelters and made plans for the continuity of government.

Such planning eventually took on a life of its own, and Graff's book summarizes much of it. Secret bunkers were built hundereds of feet underground and scattered throughout the country. Classified evacuation plans were drawn up to whisk hundreds of irreplaceable bureaucrats safely out of harm's way. Stockpiles of food, gas, water, and weapons were cached. A shadow government of business executives were recruited to step in and run government agencies whose leadership was lost during a sneak attack. Emergency presidential executive orders were pre-written as was draft legislation for a new Defense Resources Act "that laid out an entrely new structure and entirely new rules for how the government would function during a national emergency -- effectively suspending the Constitution and Bill of Rights." (p. xix)

Looked at in retrospect, the threat of atomic war launched an incredible litany of policies, programs, expenditures, and deceptions of the American people. Surprisingly, they didn't lessen any when the tensions of the Cold War eased and the threat of nuclear annihilation became less of an every day threat. In fact, justified by the war on terrorism and fueled by deep-seated suspicions, expanded plans and programs for ensuring the continuity of government (COG) further accelerated.

"Even as the nation's nuclear weapons seemed to rust, emotional traits from the Cold War had clearly made the leap to American life post-9/11. The ethos of the disproportionate response -- the same mentality that led superpowers to stockpile tens of thousands of nuclear warheads -- led to a period of fifteen years in which counterterrorism and homeland security spending dwarfed all other government investments, militarized local police departments, and turned airline travel into a security nightmare. But the most enduring artifact of the Cold War and the nuclear arms race seems to be the era's broad paranoia -- the fear that the American way of life could be wiped off the face of the earth in a moment." (p. 393)

Reading about that mindset didn't surprise me. -- It scares the shit out of me. -- But, it wasn't surprising to read about it. I've been informally encountering it on the streets and among people I talk with for more than a decade now.

I was, however, stunned to learn the extent and magnitude of official COG programs. I first learned of and studied the concept of continuity of governance decades ago and, because of a somewhat high-profile state government communication job, had even been briefed on some limited, operational aspects of it. But, I had no idea how huge and extensive these projects had become until I read Raven Rock. What I learned in this book, took my breath away and continues to deeply disturb me.

I'm still trying to come to grips with it all, and I certainly have no clear ideas of what needs to be done about it. I just know that we,the American people, can no longer push these concerns into a deep, dark closet, pour inordinate amounts of money on them, mask them with secrecy, and blindly trust that everything will work out for the best. It's time for us to wake up, open our eyes, and take responsibility for America's future by bringing continuity of governance discussions out into the open.

Right now, I urge you to get hold of this book, read it carefully and critically, and tell other people about it.

[1/11/2018]    

by Garrett M. Graff

       Simon & Schuster
       New York; 2017

Florence Nightingale: The Making of an Icon

by Mark Bostridge

       Farrar, Straus and Giroux
       New York; 2008

Of Arms and Artists: The American Revolution through Painters' Eyes

by Paul Staiti

       Bloomsbury Press
       New York; 2016

Fighting over the Founders: How We Remember the American Revolution

by Andrew M. Schocket

       New York University Press
       New York; 2015

Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism

by Bartow J. Elmore

       W. W. Norton & Company
       New York; 2015

The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays & the Birth of Public Relations

by Larry Tye

       Crown Publishers
       New York; 1998

The Invisible Soldiers: How America Outsourced Our Security

by Ann Hagedorn

       Simon & Schuster
       New York; 2014

Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions

Guy Kawasaki has written close to a dozen books, -- possibly more by the time you're reading this -- all of which are meant to help readers change their worlds. On the dust jacket of Enchantment, Kawasaki claims: If you want to transform the world and change caterpillars into butterflies, "you need to convince people to dream the same dream that you do. That's a big goal," he admits, "but one that's possible for all of us." Enchantment is intended to help us do that.

Kawasaki insists that enchanting people does not involve conning them or manipulating them. It isn't about playing games with them or their emotions. It's about carefully and thoughtfully approaching the people you interact with and thinking about them as high-value, sensitive individuals who deserve your full attention and concern. As such, Enchantment is a totally appropriate and very appealing motivational reader for public relations practitioners. I highly recommend it.

by Guy Kawasaki

       Portfolio/Penguin
       New York; 2011

Who Owns the Future?

by Jaron Lanier

       Simon & Schuster
       New York; 2013

A History of the World in 100 Objects

This is another book that doesn't purport to deal with public relations but nonetheless offers interesting public relations insights. Particularly fascinating are the author's observations about an Egyptian Pharaoh, the first modern hundredth anniversary celebration, tea's emergence as England's "national drink," and suffragettes defacing coins.

As its title ambitiously asserts, this book describes 100 objects from the British Museum highlighting key points in history. The object representing Pharaoh Ramesses II is a massive sculpture of his head and torso that the Museum brought from Egypt to London in 1816. MacGregor claims the statue "inspired many later imitations, not least the vast faces of American presidents carved into Mount Rushmore." (p. 126) Its acquisition and that of other objects brought to London during the glory days of the British Empire are interesting stories in their own right. So is the psychology behind this book which offers inadvertent insights, which I suspect would be strongly-denied by the author, into the remains of England's imperial mindset.

Given the book's premise, you might think the importance of the 100 objects would be inherent in the objects themselves or in how they were used and, in some cases, the book reflects this. In other cases, the object's importance seems to relate more to its presence in the British Museum than to its innate existence or its original use. The Ramesses sculpture, for instance, was created 3200 years ago and probably awed and inspired the Egyptians who saw it at that time. But, by 1800, it was a point of contention between the British and the French whom MacGregor said "vied to acquire the image." Ultimately, it went "finally to London. On arrival, it astounded everybody who saw it and began a revolution in how we Europeans view the history of our culture." (p. 128) MacGregor's inference is that this impact, like the impact of many other objects he discusses, would have never happened without the British Museum which opened in 1753 to take up "the Enlightenment enterprise of gathering together all the world's knowledge." (p. 562)

As for public relations insights, MacGregor describes Ramesses II, the ruler not the statue, as "a consummate self-publicist ... (who) would not only convince his own people of his greatness; he would also fix the image of imperial Egypt for the whole world." (p. 126; 128) -- Quite an accomplishment three millennia before public relations emerged as a profession. -- Of course, MacGregor doesn't say Ramesses engaged in formal public relations, only that he was one of the "supreme masters of propaganda." (p. 127)

by Neil MacGregor
     Director of the British Museum

       Viking Penguin Group
       London & New York; 2011

Eliot Ness and the Untouchables: Historical Reality and the Film and Television Depictions
 
         and         Get Capone: The Secret Plot that Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster

by Kenneth Tucker

       McFarland & Company, Inc.
       Jefferson, North Carolina; 2000

by Jonathan Eig

       Simon & Schuster:
       New York; 2010

Lies Across America; What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong

by James W. Loewen

       A Touchstone Book
       Simon & Schuster
New York; 2000

U. S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth

by Joan Waugh

       University of North Carolina Press
       Chapel Hill, NC; 2009

Communications and the Corporation

by Eugene Marlow

       United Business Publications, Inc.
       New York; 1978

Inventing Wyatt Earp: His Life and Many Legends

by Allen Barra

       Castle Books
       Edison, New Jersey; 2005

The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication

edited by Tamara L. Gillis

       Jossey-Bass and the International Association of Business Communicators:
       San Francisco; 2006

Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide

by Henry Jenkins

       New York University Press
       New York & London; 2006.

A Jackson Man: Amos Kendall and the Rise of American Democracy>

by Donald B. Cole

       Louisiana State University Press:
       Baton Rouge; 2004

Eliot Ness and the Untouchables: Historical Reality and the Film and Television Depictions

by Kenneth Tucker

       McFarland & Company, Inc.
       Jefferson, North Carolina; 2000

The Great Rascal: The Life and Adventures of Ned Buntline

by Jay Monaghan

       Little, Brown and Company:
       Boston; 1952

The Colonel and Little Missy

Larry McMurtry, who is best know for his novels and movie/television adaptations of them - The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment, Lonesome Dove, Buffalo Girls, and dozens of others - begins this non-fiction work with the assertion: "Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley were, in my opinion, the first American superstars - in the 1880s and 1890s, at the height of their fame, their images were recognized the world over. Buffalo Bill was probably the most famous American of his day; he was easily more famous than any president, more famous even than Theodore Roosevelt." This statement is neither surprising nor unusual. Countless others share this view, especially about Buffalo Bill.

McMurtry's ostensible purpose was to explore and explain the professional and personal relationships that brought William "Buffalo Bill" Cody and Annie Oakley to this then-unprecedented level of stardom. And, he does regale us with anecdotes and episodes related to their various tours, some of the techniques used in their performances, and, in the case of Buffalo Bill, a number of sexual and financial peccadillos and personal indiscretions. Regrettably, it's all very superficial. There's a lot of rambling repetition and a general lack of substance. In both style and content, the book reads more like a fan magazine than a serious work of biography or of scholarship. Very few sources are directly cited, and readers are presumably expected to accept what's being said based on the author's presumed credibility and reputation. In fact, it's my rather cynical assumption that it was only the reputation and name-recognition of the author, not the quality of the content or even of the writing, that convinced the publisher to bring out this book. Reading it was a huge disappointment and, if I were Larry McMurtry, I'd be embarrassed to have my name on it.

by Larry McMurtry

       Simon & Schuster:
       New York; 2005

Full Frontal PR: Building Buzz about Your Business, Your Product, or You

by Richard Laermer

       Bloomberg Press:
       Princeton, New Jersey; 2003