Need a very special, belated gift for that PR executive in your life?

Ebay has an auction for a first edition copy of "Biography of an idea" by Edward Bernays, considered by most to be the father of public relations.

Bernays is known for applying the theories of his uncle Sigmund Freud to shaping public perception and essentially creating the public relations industry. The price of history is $76 bucks (reserve not met) with about 33 hours to go.

Read the wikipedia entry. It's astonishing and darkly ironic to learn that his ideas were so revolutionary they influenced Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.

An added bonus, the first edition copy is signed by Bernays to Hal Stebbins, an advertising expert in the 1960s.

(signed to advertising expert Hal Stebbins)