Communication in History: Stone Age Symbols to Social Media, 8th Edition

This updated eighth edition provides a thorough and engaging history of communication and media through a collection of essential, field-defining essays. The collection reveals how media has been influential in both maintaining social order and enabling social change. Contributions from a wide range of voices offer instructors the opportunity to customize their courses while challenging students to build upon their own knowledge and skill sets. From stone age symbols and early writing to the internet and social media, readers are introduced to an expansive, intellectually enlivening study of the relationship between human history and communication media. New case studies explore the Black Press, the impact of photography on journalism, gender and civil rights discourses in the media, and the effects of algorithmic data on modern social media platforms. This book can be used as a core text or supplemental reader for courses in communication history, communication theory, and introductory courses in communication and media studies. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Preface Acknowledgments Part One: The Media of Early Civilization 1 The Earliest Precursor of Writing 2 Media in Ancient Empires 3 Civilization Without Writing—The Incas and the Quipu 4 The Origins of Writing Part Two: The Tradition of Western Literacy 5 The Greek Legacy 6 Writing and the Alphabet Effect 7 Writing Restructures Consciousness Part Three: The Print Revolution 8 Paper and Block Printing—From China to Europe 9 The Invention of Printing 10 Early Modern Literacies 11 Sensationalism and News Part Four: Electricity Creates the Wired World 12 Time, Space, and the Telegraph 13 Anti-Lynching Imagery as Visual Protest in the 1890s Black Press 14 The Telephone Takes Command 15 Dream Worlds of Consumption 16 Wireless World Part Five: Image and Sound 17 Visual Reportage I 18 Visual Reportage II 19 Inscribing Sound 20 The Making of the Phonograph 21 Early Motion Pictures 22 "Talkies" and Stardom Part Six: Broadcasting 23 Early Radio 24 The Golden Age of Programming 25 Race on Radio 26 Television Begins 27 Making Room for TV 28 From Turmoil to Tranquility Part Seven: New Media and Old in the Digital Age 29 How Media Became New 30 Popularizing the Internet 31 The World Wide Web 32 A Cultural History of Web 2.0 33 Social Media Retweets History 34 How Algorithms Rule Online Discussion Questions Suggested Readings Credits Index