| Description |
xxi, 611 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm |
| Contents |
Machine derived contents note: Introduction to the Critical Edition, W. Terrence Gordon ix P a r t I Introduction 3 Introduction to the Second Edition 9 1 The Medium Is the Message 17 2 Media Hot and Cold 37 3 Reversal of the Overheated Medium 51 4 The Gadget Lover: Narcissus as Narcosis 61 5 Hybrid Energy: Les Liaisons Dangereuses 71 6 Media as Translators 83 7 Challenge and Collapse: The Nemesis of Creativity 91 P a r t I I 8 The Spoken Word: Flower of Evil? 109 9 The Written Word: An Eye for an Ear 115 10 Roads and Paper Routes 125 11 Number: Profile of the Crowd 145 12 Clothing: Our Extended Skin 161 13 Housing: New Look and New Outlook 167 14 Money: The Poor Man's Credit Card 179 15 Clocks: The Scent of Time 197 16 The Print: How to Dig It 213 17 Comics: Mad Vestibule to TV 223 18 The Printed Word: Architect of Nationalism 231 19 Wheel, Bicycle, and Airplane 243 20 The Photograph: The Brothel-without-Walls 255 21 Press: Government by News Leak 273 22 Motorcar: The Mechanical Bride 291 23 Ads: Keeping Upset with the Joneses 303 24 Games: The Extensions of Man 313 25 Telegraph: The Social Hormone 329 26 The Typewriter: Into the Age of the Iron Whim 345 27 The Telephone: Sounding Brass or Tinkling Symbol? 355 28 The Phonograph: The Toy That Shrank the National Chest 369 29 Movies: The Reel World 381 30 Radio: The Tribal Drum 397 31 Television: The Timid Giant 411 32 Weapons: War of the Icons 447 33 Automation: Learning a Living 457 A p p e n d i x Report on Project in Understanding New Media Introduction 477 The Ryerson Media Experiment 483 Project in Understanding New Media 515 Transforming Report on Project in Understanding Media into Understanding Media 539 Critical Reception of Understanding Media 545 Glossary 559 Works Cited 565 Subject Index 573 Name Index 583 Publications of Marshall McLuhan 589 |
| Summary |
This reissue marks the thirtieth anniversary (1964-1994) of McLuhan's classic expose on the state of the then emerging phenomenon of mass media. Terms and phrases such as "the global village" and "the medium is the message" are now part of the lexicon, and McLuhan's theories continue to challenge our sensibilities and our assumptions about how and what we communicate. There has been a notable resurgence of interest in McLuhan's work in recent years, fueled by the Internet and growing competition and confluence among cable, telephone, wireless and other telecommunications technologies, resulting in new media models and information ecologies. In a new introduction to this edition of Understanding Media, Harper's editor Lewis Lapham reevaluates McLuhan's work in the light of the technological as well as the political and social changes that have occurred in the last part of this century.--From publisher description |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 569-574) and index |
| Subject |
Mass media.
|
| Author |
Gordon, W. Terrence, 1942-
|
| LC no. |
2003012174 |
| ISBN |
1584230738 |
|
