Product Description

Focusing mainly on the development of newspapers, film, radio, television, and the Internet in the United States and Western Europe, Media and Society in the Twentieth Century fills a critical need for students and scholars by offering a historical introduction to the mass media in our time.

• Provides an up–to–date, readable, and informative survey of the history of mass media in the twentieth century.
  
• Offers a historical and comparative perspective to emphasize the importance of contemporary media and to explain why particular media systems exist.
  
• Focuses on the development of newspapers, film, radio, and television for purposes of entertainment, information, and persuasion.
  
• Explores recent media developments, including the Internet and globalization, from a historical perspective.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #592394 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 296 pages

Review
‘This is easily the best study of twentieth–century media I′ve seen. It combines historical with contemporary media studies research to trace the origins and impact of all major media and does so in well–written prose that will please teachers and inspire students.’ Gary Cross, The Pennsylvania State University

‘This important survey brings together the findings of specialized research on media history in a number of countries and analyses developments over the course of the twentieth century. The historical sweep is monumental and the analytical grasp of the authors on the profound technological changes that have shaped our lives is impressive. I congratulate the authors for making a significant contribution to the history of the twentieth century and of the communications revolution.’ David Welch, University of Kent at Canterbury

"Those looking for a quick but insightful survey will find this treatment hard to beat" Choice

From the Back Cover
Media and Society in the Twentieth Century captures the breathtaking revolutionary sweep of mass media since the turn of the century. Utilizing historical and comparative perspectives, the authors emphasize the importance of contemporary media and explain why particular media systems exist. The volume analyzes the socio–economic contexts in which mass media originated; the institutional forms taken by evolving media; the relationships between media institutions and the state; and the interrelationships between different media.

Focusing mainly on the development of newspapers, film, radio, television, and the Internet in the United States and Western Europe, Media and Society in the Twentieth Century fills a critical need for students and scholars by offering a historical introduction to the mass media in our time.

About the Author
Lyn Gorman is Acting Dean, Faculty of Arts at Charles Sturt University, Australia. She has published extensively on media history and on war and society, and is co–author of Theological and Religious Reference Materials (three volumes with G. E. Gorman, 1984–6).

David McLean is Senior Lecturer in History at Charles Sturt University, Australia. He has been a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow, a Harold White Fellow at the National Library of Australia, and a winner of the Stuart L. Bernath Scholarly Article Prize of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.