Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Written by two leading social and cultural historians, the first edition of A Social History of the Media has become a classic textbook, providing a masterful overview of communication media and of the social and cultural contexts within which they emerged and evolved over time.

In this new and revised edition, Asa Briggs and Peter Burke have updated their classic study to cover the exciting media developments of the early 21st Century. In addition to the classic material exploring the continuing importance of oral and manuscript communication, the rise of print and the relationship between physical transportation and social communication, a new chapter on multimedia now extends the far-reaching scope of this book. New media technologies are treated in new depth throughout the latter sections and the book concludes with an account of the convergences associated with digital communication technology, the rise of the internet and the phenomenon of globalization.

Avoiding technological determinism and rejecting assumptions of straightforward evolutionary progress, this book brings out the rich and varied histories of communication media. It will be an ideal text for students in history, media and cultural studies and journalism, but it will also appeal to a wide general readership. It has already been translated into more than ten languages.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of Illustrations (p. vi)
• Preface (p. viii)
• 1 Introduction (p. 1)
• 2 The Print Revolution in Context (p. 13)
• 3 The Media and the Public Sphere in Early Modern Europe (p. 61)
• 4 From Steam to Electricity (p. 88)
• 5 Processes and Patterns (p. 100)
• 6 Information, Education, Entertainment (p. 151)
• 7 Convergence (p. 216)
• 8 Multimedia (p. 254)
• Chronology (p. 269)
• Further Reading (p. 281)
• Index (p. 295)

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

"In this new and revised edition, Asa Briggs and Peter Burke have updated their classic study to cover the media developments of the early twenty-first century. In addition to the historical material exploring the continuing importance of oral and manuscript communication, the rise of print and the relationship between physical transportation and social communication, a new chapter on multimedia extends the far-reaching scope of this book. New media technologies are treated in depth throughout the latter sections and the book concludes with an account of the convergences associated with digital communication technology, the rise of the Internet and the phenomenon of globalization." "Avoiding technological determinism and rejecting assumptions of straightforward evolutionary progress, this book brings out the rich and varied histories of communication media. It will be an ideal text for students in history, media and cultural studies and journalism, but it will also appeal to a wide general readership. It has already been translated into more than ten languages."--BOOK JACKET.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This volume offers a very light update of an undergraduate textbook/resource first published in 2002. Both the authors are distinguished scholars of cultural and social history based in the UK, and here they attempt that most difficult of tasks--a broad social history from the invention of printing to the present--with a decided British cast. Only the final chapter, now dubbed "multimedia," appears to have been changed, and a few entries have been added to the chronology. Given that not a whole lot of media history--social or otherwise--separates this edition from the first, those who own the earlier edition can certainly pass on this one. Those who do not should invest in this edition. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Lower-/upper-division undergraduates; graduate students. C. Sterling George Washington University