It is controversial because of the uncertainty of its authorship. Is it a secret document written by a CFR-dominated think tank commissioned by the U.S. Department of Defense during the Johnson Administration, as claimed in the report itself, or was it written by Leonard Lewin, the man who originally said he was given the manuscript by one of the writers who felt it should be leaked to the public? 
 It is important because it is a blueprint for how oppressive governments can keep their citizens psychologically incapable of rebelling. The solution, says the Report, is war. Only during war or the threat of war are the masses compliant enough to carry the yoke of oppressive government without complaint. Fear of conquest and pillage by an enemy can make almost any burden seem acceptable by comparison. 
 The Report also examines the possibility of an alternative to war that might arouse the same high level of fear. It concludes that an end-of-earth scenario based on projections of environmental catastrophe holds the most promise for that purpose. It says that it makes no difference if the projections are correct. Credibility is more important than truth, and credibility can be achieved by repetition in the media. 
 Regardless of who wrote it, this book explains the reality of our present world. Hardbound. 152 pages.

Report from Iron Mountain: On the Possibility and Desirability of Peace

Literature & Fiction

Lewin, Leonard C.

Humor & Satire

Free Press

Report from Iron Mountain on the Possibility and Desirability of Peace

Lightyear Pr

Upon its first appearance in 1967, this best-selling "secret government report" sparked immediate debate among journalists and scholars with its disturbingly convincing claim: a condition of "permanent peace" at the end of the Cold War would threaten our nation's economic and social stability. Although finally identified as an antimilitarist hoax by writer/editor Leonard Lewin, who conceived and launched the book with a consortium of peace movement intellectuals including future Nation editors Victor Navasky and Richard Lingeman, novelist E. L. Doctorow, and economist John Kenneth Galbraith, Iron Mountain would eventually take on a life of its own. Long out of print, the Report suddenly reappeared in "bootleg" editions more than twenty years after the original publication. In a manner never foreseen by the book's creators, it was now being read as a "bible" by the militias of the radical right - a bizarre reversal that returns this haunting satire to the spotlight and raises uncomfortable questions about the changing nature of today's political culture.

Report from Iron Mountain

Reference

Bridger House Publishers Inc

In a tradition of political satire that ranges from A MODEST PROPOSAL to DR. STRANGELOVE falls the perplexing, ingenious, and ceaselessly curious REPORT FROM IRON MOUNTAIN. Upon its first appearance in 1967, this best-selling "secret government report" sparked immediate debate among journalists and scholars with its disturbingly convincing claim: a condition of "permanent peace" at the end of the Cold War would threaten our nation's economic and social stability. Although finally identified as an antimilitarist hoax by writer/editor Leonard Lewin, who conceived and launched the book with a consortium of peace movement intellectuals including future NATION editors Victor Navasky and Richard Lingerman, novelist E.L. Doctorow, and economist John Kenneth Galbraith, IRON MOUNTAIN would eventually take on a life of its own.

Report From Iron Mountain

Business & Money

Economics

Dead Authors Society

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

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