Description
Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1950, Harold A. Innis’s Empire and Communications is considered to be one of the classic works in media studies, yet its origins have received little attention. Ambitious in its scope, the book spans five millennia, tracing a path of development around the globe from 2900 BCE to the twentieth century and revealing the cyclical interplay between communications and power structures across space and time.
In this new edition, William J. Buxton pays close attention to handwritten glosses that Innis added to a copy of the original edition and the revisions undertaken by his widow, Mary Q. Innis. A new introduction provides a detailed account of how the book emerged from lectures that Innis delivered at Oxford University in 1948, as well as how it related to other presentations Innis made in Britain during the same period. It explores how Innis sought to enrich his analysis by incorporating material related to phenomena such as war, education,
Table of Contents
Introduction to Empire and Communications William J. Buxton Notes on the Text William J. Buxton Empire and Communications – 1972 edition Harold A. Innis Foreword by Marshall McLuhan Author's Preface Editor's Note by Mary Q. Innis 1. Introduction 2. Egypt 3. Babylonia 4. The Oral Tradition and Greek Civilization 5. The Written Tradition and the Roman Empire 6. Parchment and Paper 7. Paper and the Printing Press Bibliography Compiled by William J. Buxton Index Compiled by William J. Buxton
