Empire and Communications

Front Cover
Dundurn, 2007 - 287 pages

It's been said that without Harold A. Innis there could have been no Marshall McLuhan. Empire and Communications is one of Innis's most important contributions to the debate about how media influence the development of consciousness and societies. In this seminal text, he traces humanity's movement from the oral tradition of preliterate cultures to the electronic media of recent times. Along the way, he presents his own influential concepts of oral communication, time and space bias, and monopolies of knowledge.

 

Contents

Publishers Note
9
General Introduction
11
Preface
19
Introduction
21
Egypt
32
Babylonia
46
The Oral Tradition and Greek Civilization
75
The Written Tradition and the Roman Empire
106
Paper and the Printing Press
138
Paper and the Printing Press
164
Notes
199
Marginalia
220
Suggested Reading
270
Index
274
Copyright

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Page 28 - It is idle to think that, by means of words, any real communication can ever pass from one man to another.
Page 13 - He underwent a multilevel crisis towards the end of the Great Depression and the beginning of World War n that launched him on the second half of his intellectual journey.

About the author (2007)

Alexander John Watson is the author of Marginal Man:The Dark Vision of Harold Innis and is the president and CEO of CARE Canada.

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