A 1922 book by the American journalist Walter Lippmann on how people form pictures of events they cannot observe directly, and how newspapers, censorship, stereotypes and organised interests shape those pictures. Lippmann had worked in the US war effort of 1917 to 1918 before writing it. The archive's doctrine page on Lippmann summarises the argument and lists the techniques it bears on; this is the book itself, in 28 chapters across eight parts.
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- Part I: Introduction
- 1. The World Outside and the Pictures in Our Heads 7,962 words
- Part II: Approaches to the World Outside
- 2. Censorship and Privacy 2,968 words
- 3. Contact and Opportunity 2,899 words
- 4. Time and Attention 1,424 words
- 5. Speed, Words, and Clearness 3,511 words
- Part III: Stereotypes
- 6. Stereotypes 4,302 words
- 7. Stereotypes as Defense 2,344 words
- 8. Blind Spots and Their Value 2,866 words
- 9. Codes and Their Enemies 3,927 words
- 10. The Detection of Stereotypes 7,197 words
- Part IV: Interests
- 11. The Enlisting of Interest 2,939 words
- 12. Self-interest Reconsidered 5,490 words
- Part V: The Making of a Common Will
- 13. The Transfer of Interest 6,859 words
- 14. Yes or No 3,694 words
- 15. Leaders and the Rank and File 4,114 words
- Part VI: The Image of Democracy
- 16. The Self-centered Man 2,496 words
- 17. The Self-contained Community 3,326 words
- 18. The Role of Force, Patronage and Privilege 4,147 words
- 19. The Old Image in a New Form: Guild Socialism 4,468 words
- 20. A New Image 1,283 words
- Part VII: Newspapers
- 21. The Buying Public 2,824 words
- 22. The Constant Reader 2,545 words
- 23. The Nature of News 5,208 words
- 24. News, Truth, and a Conclusion 1,991 words
- Part VIII: Organized Intelligence
- 25. The Entering Wedge 2,423 words
- 26. Intelligence Work 4,864 words
- 27. The Appeal to the Public 3,308 words
- 28. The Appeal to Reason 2,191 words
Download as plain text 103,570 words, with the provenance header above the text
Provenance and rights
- Edition
- Public Opinion. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922 (Project Gutenberg's proofread transcription)
- Text source
- Project Gutenberg, ebook #6456
- Text basis
- Proofread transcription by Project Gutenberg's Distributed Proofreaders.
- Rights
- Published in the United States in 1922, more than 95 years ago, so in the public domain in the United States. Lippmann died in 1974. Checked September 29, 2026.
- Changes made
- Line wraps rejoined and headings set in title case; the Project Gutenberg licence header and footer removed. Wording, spelling and punctuation are the source's own. Section numerals inside chapters are kept as printed.
- Source file checksum
57d387a66be0964d…(SHA-256 of the download this text was made from)
Where it appears in the archive
- Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion (1922)
- The Committee on Public Information: how the U.S. government sold the First World War at home (1917-1919)