Description

Featured by the New Yorker, Newsweek, National Public Radio, the Associated Press, the Miami Herald, the Atlantic, The Nation, Columbia Journalism Review, Publishers Weekly, the Library Journal, BoingBoing, and many others! NOW AVAILABLE IN A 10th-ANNIVERSARY EDITION, UPDATED AND WITH A NEW AFTERWORD.

The Influencing Machine is a collaboration with journalist Brooke Gladstone, co-host of the syndicated weekly radio show On the Media (produced by WNYC and distributed by NPR).

Publisher W.W. Norton calls The Influencing Machine, “a visionary and opinionated work of graphic nonfiction on the media and its discontents. It debunks the notion that ‘The Media’ is an external force, outside of our control, equipping us to be savvy consumers and shapers of the news.”

The new edition brings the story up to date, striving to reckon with the impact of Donald Trump — without having him hijack the narrative. The book features changes to text and art, touching on the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd, and includes a new afterword that addresses the rise of social media, and the public’s responsibility in a time of division and disinformation.

The Associated Press wrote of The Influencing Machine, “what makes the book so notable is its style. It’s presented almost entirely in drawings, like a textbook in comic-book or graphic-novel form. . . . It’s easy to imagine The Influencing Machine becoming mandatory reading in journalism classes around the country.”

Publishers Weekly and the Library Journal both declared The Influencing Machine to be one of the best comics/graphic novels of 2011. In addition, The Influencing Machine was listed on a number of 2011 holiday gift guides, including New York Magazine and BoingBoing. It was selected for 1book140, The Atlantic.com’s Reading Club.

In addition, the book was a “Common Read” selection at the University of Maryland, Wichita State University, and Johnson County Community College.

Since its publication, The Influencing Machine has been translated into French, Italian, German, and Korean.

Praise for The Influencing Machine:

“This is a comic book with zest and brains — and it just might help a reader understand the brave new world.”
— The New Yorker

“. . . What makes the book so notable is its style. It’s presented almost entirely in drawings, like a textbook in comic-book or graphic-novel form. . . . It’s easy to imagine The Influencing Machine becoming mandatory reading in journalism classes around the country.”
— Associated Press

“. . . mind-opening, thought-provoking, and incredibly timely. . . . [A]n absolutely spectacular read: serious without being weighty, accessible without being thin. It’s one of those graphic nonfiction volumes, like Understanding Comics, that shows just how well suited comics are to explaining and exploring serious subjects.”
— BoingBoing

“The Influencing Machine is so remarkable that it is hard to describe. The best I can do is: it’s a book about the history and current controversies of the media, all done as a Spiegelman-style comic-strip narrative. Brooke herself (or at least an avatar) leads you through it all, and her ‘voice’ — well known after her years as host of NPR’s On the Media — comes through loud and clear, thanks to Josh Neufeld’s witty drawings. I learned a lot, including a lot that I should have known already, and enjoyed every minute.”
— Michael Kinsley