In its updated second edition, Propaganda Inc. tells the story of how U.S. cultural policy operated before, during, and after the Cold War, and in the days following 9/11. Snow explains the Washington deal-makings that led up to USIA's official abolishment in October 1999, and how the agency that was once responsible for "telling America's story to the world" saw new life breathed into its mission after September 11, 2001. Dr. Snow spent two years inside America's propaganda machine - The U.S. Information Agency - and discovered on her watch a bureaucracy deeply distrustful of dissent and one-way in its promotion of American corporate interests overseas. Minus a Cold War mission, the agency responsible for America's overseas information and culture programs had embraced a "Culture, Inc" agenda that downplayed worthy ideals of mutual understanding and reduced the exchange of ideas and people to vagaries of the American global market. 9/11 woke up the country to new priorities. American propaganda is now a full partner in the war on terrorism. This book provides a look back at its history in the United States and a step forward to where it may be going. 

Nancy Snow is an Associate Professor in the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.  She received her Ph.D. in international relations from the School of International Service at American University in Washington, D.C.  From 1992-1994, she worked as a cultural affairs specialist at the United States Information Agency.  She was a Fulbright scholar to Germany and German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.  Her website is www.nancysnow.com.