Narrated by Dan Crue, The Psychology of Totalitarianism by Mattias Desmet has a runtime of 7 hrs 53 mins on Audible.
Publisher’s Summary
We bear witness to loneliness, free-floating anxiety, and fear giving way to censorship, loss of privacy, and surrendered freedoms. It is all spurred by a singular, focused crisis narrative that forbids dissident views and relies on destructive groupthink.
Totalitarianism is not a coincidence and does not form in a vacuum. It arises from a collective psychosis that has followed a predictable script throughout history, its formation gaining strength and speed with each generation—from the Jacobins to the Nazis and Stalinists—as technology advances. Governments, mass media, and other mechanized forces use fear, loneliness, and isolation to demoralize populations and exert control, persuading large groups of people to act against their own interests, always with destructive results.
In The Psychology of Totalitarianism, world-renowned Professor of Clinical Psychology Mattias Desmet deconstructs the societal conditions that allow this collective psychosis to take hold. By looking at our current situation and identifying the phenomenon of “mass formation”—a type of collective hypnosis—he clearly illustrates how close we are to surrendering to totalitarian regimes.
Audiobook Details
- Narrated by: Dan Crue
- Length: 7 hrs 53 mins
- Publisher: Chelsea Green
- Release year: 2022
- Audible category: Health & Wellness / Psychology & Mental Health / Psychology
Listener Ratings
The Psychology of Totalitarianism holds an average listener rating of 4.7/5 from 961 Audible ratings.
On Audible, ratings for this title break down into narration performance and story separately:
- Performance (narration): 4.7/5
- Story: 4.6/5
- 5-star ratings: 81% of all ratings
What Audible Listeners Are Saying
5/5 stars — “Seminal work that will mark history”
Desmet touches upon some of the most important aspects of existence, and opens key insights on how to better think of them.
The delivery is impressive, both enjoyable and easy to understand and follow along, which was no given on such difficult topics.One of my best reads ever, possibly because I had come to the same conclusions myself and it feels comforting intellectually and humanly to know we’re many out there.
— Phil L., Audible listener
5/5 stars — “Superb!”
Really terrific! Helped me make sense of the global insanity we have all been witnessing.— Daniel J Celebucki, Audible listener
5/5 stars — “Very enlightening and well supported with helpful references “
Good mix of historical facts and references of psychological/sociological books, theories and authors. Makes sense and one can see these factors at play in todays life. Gives insight into how people lose themselves to hate and are willing to believe things anyone else would realize is false. I will listen to repeatedly as well as some of the books he referenced.— duane s. roseman, Audible listener
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