The manipulative mode

the long version

"This book deals with political propaganda in classical antiquity, exploring the contexts, strategies, and parameters of a phenomenon that has often been approached with anachronistic models (such as the centrally organized "propaganda machines" of the 20th-century totalitarian regimes) or completely ignored." "It offers case studies on the archaic period, classical Athens, the Hellenistic kingdoms, the Augustan age and the late Roman empire, and emphasizes concepts such as interaction, integration, and horizontal orientation."--BOOK JACKET.