Communication in History

Communication in History's outstanding selection of readings from classic and contemporary sources gives an extensive overview of the most important ideas in the field. Encompassing topics as wide-ranging as the role of printing in the rise of the modern state and the role of the Internet in the Information Age, this anthology reveals how media have been influential both in maintaining social order and as powerful agents of change. Revised with new readings for the Fifth Edition, Communication in History continues to be, as one reviewer wrote, "the only text in the sea of History of Mass Communication texts that introduces students to a more expansive, intellectually enlivening study of the relationship between human history and communication history."Concise but comprehensive chapters vary in style and level, making it easy for instructors to tailor assignments to their courses. Readingsfeature major writers including Innis, Ong, McLuhan, Schudson, Mumford, Postman, and many others. Part introductions provide an overview of the concepts and scholars presented in each section. "Suggestions for Further Reading" section serves as a guide to reading in greater depth. Entries on television in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s help to make the television section more historically complete. Discussion of the telegraph highlights how it transformed a variety of media practices. An advertising shows more clearly how consumption and mass society develops through media practices. An entry on early printing technology in China increases the text's coverage of non-Western communications traditions.