本文通过解读伯内斯的《宣传》，探讨了传播思想史研究与传播学科史、传播史在视角上的差异。本文从伯内斯对于“宣传”的理解入手，讨论了他为何会有意反潮流而动，倡导宣传，以及他如何从理论与历史两方面论证了宣传的正当性。他的这种看法是美国进步主义运动的必然产物，并使进步主义运动最终走向了自己的对立面。

This paper scrutinizes Bernays’s idea of propaganda demonstrated in his book Propaganda (1928), aiming at displaying the distinctive perspective and approach in the study of history of communication idea compared to those in the study of history of communication and history of communication studies. It further discussed the topics why Bernays deliberately advocated propaganda against the trend of his time as well as how he managed to legitimate propaganda by the proofs deducted from political theory and history of public relation. This study also finds that Bernays’s idea of propaganda was the natural outcome of American progressivism, which ultimately turned this movement against itself.