Reflections

My Life in Propaganda is Magda Stroi´nska's personal account of growing up with communist propaganda in Eastern Europe. She looks at the influence of her family history that contradicted what she was taught at school; the cognitive and emotional effects of compulsory school readings; socialist realist art and film; and Radio Free Europe and Voice of America and their role in shaping her generation's collective view of the world. Through her chosen field of linguistics, she analyzes ways in which propagandistic language, such as `doubletalk,' Orwellian `Newspeak,' `weasel words,' and, more colloquially, `bullshit,' is used to distort reality. The book demonstrates that democracy can never be taken for granted. 

Fifty years in a law profession she loves, twenty-four spent as a judge, Nancy Morrison is a story-teller and trail-blazer. Entertaining, at times warm and witty, this memoir also reminds us of dark times, of the ever-relevant social and political issues of the day, the need for law reform. Here is a life that was never dull, including the twenty-four years Nancy shared with actor Bruno Gerussi. Benched is a must-read for members of the law profession, written by one of their own, and for students who may be considering Law as a career. In addition, for women and other minorities, the book is a reminder of our history, when today's rights were not a given.