How do you fight lies on a global scale? Can a propaganda war be won?

Join Peter Kaufman for a book discussion on How to Win an Information War, by Peter Pomerantsev. A leading expert on disinformation, Pomerantsev tells the story of the rogue WWII propagandist Sefton Delmer, examining how U.S. and U.K. propaganda undermined Germans’ faith in Nazism, and how such methods could be used against today’s tyrants.

In the summer of 1941, Hitler ruled Europe, and Britain was struggling to combat his powerful propaganda machine but making little impact – except for the broadcasts of someone called Der Chef, a German who questioned Nazi doctrine, had access to high-ranking German military secrets, and spoke of internal rebellion. Der Chef’s broadcasts influenced German soldiers and citizens as well as politicians in Washington DC who were debating whether to enter the war. But Der Chef was a fiction – a character created by the British propagandist Thomas Sefton Delmer.

While telling Delmer’s story, Pomerantsev is called into a wartime propaganda effort of his own: the U.S. response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The son of political dissidents, and born in Ukraine, Pomerantsev is also a writer and broadcast producer. In 2022, he co-founded The Reckoning Project, documenting Russian war crimes to prevent Russian propaganda from erasing them. Pomerantsev weaves what he's learning from Delmer into his own fight against Vladimir Putin's tyranny and lies – and the lies of others. With timely import, he offers an extraordinary account of how to manipulate the passions of supporters and enemies, and how to turn the tide of an information war.

Peter B, Kaufman, is a writer, teacher, and documentary producer who works at MIT Open Learning. He lives in Lakeville, Connecticut, and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This program is made possible by the generous support of the Friends of the Scoville Library.

Registration is requested. For more information and to register, please use the link below.