Discover how Sigmund Freud's revolutionary ideas about the human mind were transformed into powerful tools for mass influence in this captivating exploration of 20th-century psychology and manipulation.

Meet Edward Bernays, Freud's ingenious nephew who became the father of modern public relations by applying his uncle's theories to the corporate world. Learn how Bernays taught America's biggest companies to bypass rational thought and tap directly into our unconscious desires, creating an insatiable consumer culture that persists to this day.

But the story doesn't end with shopping. We'll examine how these same psychological techniques were deployed across the political spectrum - from Bernays' propaganda campaigns to the disturbing mass manipulation tactics of Nazi Germany. We'll contrast these approaches with the more optimistic views of Roosevelt and Gallup, who believed in appealing to the public's rationality.

This episode reveals the hidden battle for the human mind that defined the 20th century and continues to shape our world today - a struggle between those who see people as irrational creatures to be controlled and those who believe in human reason and dignity.