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The groundbreaking, seminal work that redefined the way we think about communication-and the then-emerging phenomenon of mass media.


Marshall McLuhan's classic work Understanding Media was called "a timeless analysis of how language, speech, and technology shape human behavior in the era of mass communication" by the Wall Street Journal when it was first published in 1964. The book famously anticipated the impact of electronic media and the internet on culture and society, and challenged our assumptions about how and what we communicate. It also coined the well-known phrases "the media is the message" and "the global village," which described, respectively, the hierarchy of media and content and the shrinking of our world due to electronic media.

In this edition's introduction, esteemed editor and writer Lewis Lapham reevaluated McLuhan's work in the light of technological as well as political and social changes in the latter half of the twentieth century, showing why McLuhan's theories enjoyed the critical influence that they did and how he became one of the prophetic voices of our time.

In an age of constant connectedness, it is all too easy to forget we did not always live our lives immersed in social media and push notifications. This book offers an invaluable glimpse at just how we got here.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Part 1 Introduction
• 1 Medium Is the Message
• 2 Media Hot and Cold
• 3 Reversal of the Overheated Medium
• 4 The Gadget Lover: Narcissus as Narcosis
• 5 Hybrid Energy: Les Liaisons Dangereuses
• 6 Media as Translators
• 7 Challenge and Collapse: The Nemesis of Creativity
• Part 2
• 8 The Spoken Word: Flower or Evil?
• 9 The Written Word: An Eye for an Ear
• 10 Roads and Paper Routes
• 11 Number: Profile of the Crowd
• 12 Clothing: Our Extended Skin
• 13 Housing: New Look and New Outlook
• 14 Money: The Poor Man's Credit Card
• 15 Clocks: The Scent of Time
• 16 The Print: How to Dig It
• 17 Comics: Mad Vestibule to TV
• 18 The Printed Word: Architect of Nationalism
• 19 Wheel, Bicycle, and Airplane
• 20 The Photograph: The Brothel-without-Walls
• 21 Press: Government by News Leak
• 22 Motorcar: The Mechanical Bride
• 23 Ads: Keeping Upset with the Joneses
• 24 Games: The Extensions of Man
• 25 Telegraph: The Social Hormone
• 26 The Typewriter: Into the Age of the Iron Whim
• 27 The Telephone: Sounding Brass or Tinkling Symbol?
• 28 The Phonograph: The Toy That Shrank the National Chest
• 29 Movies: The Reel World
• 30 Radio: the Tribal Drum
• 31 Television: The Timid Giant
• 32 Weapons: War of the Icons
• 33 Automation: Learning a Living