The Idea of the Id: Adam Curtis' Century of the Self

For good or ill, the theories of Sigmund Freud exerted an enormous influence on the 20^th century, becoming deeply entrenched in Western culture to the point that Freud’s terms “ego”, “id” and “subconscious” have become common in everyday language. Within only a short time of its invention, psychoanalysis leapt from clinical practice into the world at large. In his 2002 documentary series The Century of the Self, Adam Curtis explores the application of Freud in the realms of advertising, marketing and politics. “This series,” Curtis narrates, “is about how those in power have used Freud’s theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy.

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The Horrifying Puzzle: Sven Lindqvist's A History of Bombing

Sven Lindqvist’s 2000 A History of Bombing grapples with the great terror of the twentieth century, the cascade of bombs raining down unto the helpless masses below, from its first application in colonial warfare to the potential of radioactive death on a global scale. Lindqvist approaches his subject through a series of loosely collected anecdotes, ranging from the personal, the imaginary (such as science fiction, horror, or the Cold War thriller), to the more clinical and sober reporting of wartime casualties. What results is a “labyrinth”, a “horrifying puzzle” of destruction and death on a scale heretofore unseen in human history.

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