A cultural historian chronicles the dominant role that Freudian
psychology has come to play in our culture. “From the early
1920s through the early 1960s, psychoanalysis helped to
reprogram the American mind by shifting our orientation from
civic interests to personal ones in all spheres of everyday
life,” writes Samuel (The American Dream: A Cultural History,
2012, etc.). As sources, the author relies primarily on films,
magazine articles, newspapers and popular literature. He cites a
1925 description of Edward Bernays by the New York Times, in
which he was called the “father of public relations.” Freud’s
double nephew, Bernays orchestrated many lucrative advertising
campaigns. One of the most famous, undertaken for Lucky Strike
cigarettes, involved New York City debutantes smoking in public
during the Easter parade. In its early days, following World War
I, psychoanalysis was restricted to members of the social elite
able to afford the time and money for up to six sessions per
week, but its influence spread