“Menticide” in a 1956 Book Title: What Records Show

What the Catalog Records Show

Internet Archive’s catalog lists Joost Abraham Maurits Meerloo (1903-) as the author of a book titled The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing. The Archive listing identifies this work as a 1956 edition. The word “menticide” appears directly in the book’s title, alongside “thought control” and “brainwashing.”

What This Does Establish

These two catalog entries confirm a narrow set of facts: a book with this exact title exists, it is attributed to an author by that name, and a 1956 edition is recorded in at least one standard bibliographic database. The title itself places “menticide” in print, connected to psychological and mind-control terminology, as of that publication record.

What This Does Not Establish

Catalog and bibliographic records of this kind are metadata — they document that a book exists and who is credited with writing it. They do not, on their own, establish anything beyond that. Specifically, these records do not confirm who coined the term “menticide,” what definition the book assigns to it, what arguments or claims the book makes, any biographical details about the author beyond the name as listed, or how the term has been used, discussed, or received in any other context, academic or otherwise. A title appearing in a catalog is not evidence of the term’s origin, its acceptance in any field, or its broader currency.

Why the Distinction Matters

It is common for a word appearing in a book title to be mistaken for proof of that word’s history or meaning. A catalog record is a librarian’s or database compiler’s description of a publication, not a verified account of etymology, authorship priority, or scholarly consensus. Anyone citing this book as a source for claims about the term “menticide” should rely on the book’s actual text, or on secondary scholarship about it, rather than on the bibliographic listing alone.