Empire and Communications

by Harold A. Innis, Alexander John Watson (Introduction)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459721050
Publisher:	Dundurn Press
Publication date:	01/01/2007
Series:	Voyageur Classics , #4
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	368 KB

About the Author

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

Harold A. Innis taught political economy at the University of Toronto for more than 30 years. He became internationally famous and published a number of influential books. Innis died in 1952.

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

Table of Contents

Reading Empire and Communications: Above and below the Line William J. Buxton vii

Notes on the Text William J. Buxton xliii

Empire and Communications, 1972 edition Harold A. Innis

Foreword Marshall McLuhan xlix

Authors' Preface lvii

Editor's Note Mary Q. Innis lix

1 Introduction 3

2 Egypt 12

3 Babylonia 26

4 The Oral Tradition and Greek Civilization 53

5 The Written Tradition and the Roman Empire 85

6 Parchment and Paper 116

7 Paper and the Printing Press 141

Bibliography 171

Compiled William J. Buxton

Index 195

Compiled William J. Buxton

What People are Saying About This

Michael Stamm

"Empire and Communications is a canonical work dense with historical and historiographical allusions that are obscure to many contemporary readers, and William J. Buxton's masterful introduction provides invaluable detail about the intellectual currents with which Innis was engaged. Even more importantly, Buxton explains the historical context vital for understanding the book's conception and production, in the process both giving Mary Q. Innis her proper due in shaping its content and illuminating for readers the work's critical politics."

John Durham Peters

"Empire and Communications offers a brisk cinematic montage of the struggles of civilizations to manage space, time, and power. This new edition sparkles with fresh archival materials showcasing Innis's creative process. In the present chaos, we need his critical thinking more than ever. Here, once again, Harold Innis takes flight in the gathering dusk!"

Editorial Reviews

With the benefit of over 50 years of reflection, we can state without opposition that Harold Innis was an important figure in the development of communications studies, and that our students today would do well to read his book, if only to experience the joy of physically grasping and grappling with a difficult publication instead of reading the watered-down version available on Wikipedia.

Journal Of International Communication

I can think of no better inoculation against the rampant disease of present-mindedness in the contemporary world than a careful reading of [Innis's] classic, Empire and Communications. This book was the foundation on which he built his understanding of the contemporary world, in particular his view of the United States of America, its foreign policy, and its effects on other cultures. At the time of Innis's death in 1952, his perspective on the contemporary world seemed radical and far-fetched. When we read his work anew over a distance of more than fifty years, it seems fresh and, indeed, prophetic.

Alexander John Watson

Innis's writings ... prove understandable and applicable in a variety of modern-day contexts.

Technology and Culture

This book teaches us to reflect on how the means and processes of communication have been embedded in imperial power.. .. In a career dedicated to explaining empire, Innis discovered communication and blazed an important trail. The time is ripe to reintroduce and welcome this rewarding book, especially to Innis's [U.S.] neighbors. We live in a moment in which the wages of empire weigh heavily on the world.

From The Foreword - Andrew Calabrese

" Empire and Communications is a canonical work dense with historical and historiographical allusions that are obscure to many contemporary readers, and William J. Buxton’s masterful introduction provides invaluable detail about the intellectual currents with which Innis was engaged. Even more importantly, Buxton explains the historical context vital for understanding the book’s conception and production, in the process both giving Mary Q. Innis her proper due in shaping its content and illuminating for readers the work’s critical politics."

—Michael Stamm, Professor of History, Michigan State University

" Empire and Communications offers a brisk cinematic montage of the struggles of civilizations to manage space, time, and power. This new edition sparkles with fresh archival materials showcasing Innis’s creative process. In the present chaos, we need his critical thinking more than ever. Here, once again, Harold Innis takes flight in the gathering dusk!"

—John Durham Peters, Maria Rosa Menocal Professor of English and of Film and Media Studies, Yale University

From the Publisher