Description
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewBauman is a master of his craft. A Most Valuable Medium enables us to benefit from his vast accumulated knowledge and insights as he explores the early world of phonographic recordings of spoken genres, from street-corner sales pitches to country store tall tales. His is a decidedly important contribution to understanding the rise of broadcasting, which has been widely assumed to begin with the advent of radio in 1920. It is also a major contribution to our understanding of the discourse processes of decontextualization and circulation that are central to the constitution and maintenance of modern public spheres.
-- Greg Urban, University of Pennsylvania
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Note on Transcription
Listen to the Records
1. Introduction: "A Most Valuable Medium"
2. "Come in Here and Hear Them Speak!": Campaign Speeches and Political Publics, with Patrick Feaster
3. "Accordin' to the Gospel of Etymology": Aural Blackface and New African American Poetics
4. "We Always Enjoy a Good Story": From Monologue to Audio Theater
5. "Talking Machine Story Teller": Cal Stewart and the Remediation of Storytelling
6. "Somebody Stole My Tune!": Charles Ross Taggart and Country Communicability
7. "I Don't See No Mans": Bridging the Schizophonic Gap
Discography, by Patrick Feaster
References
Index
