Customer Reviews

Once upon a Telephone: An Illustrated Social History

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Somehow Gwathmey and Stern have managed to source an amazing trove of phone ephemera for their book and what I particularly liked about it was the way all this fascinating graphic material has been splashed over every page in a colorful extravaganza but don't be put off by this because these visual history pages look a treat.

Apart from the usual facts and figures about phones in America over the decades there are plenty of examples of how the ring, ring, ring affected society with sidebars on music ('The Telephone hour song' from the 1960 musical: Bye, bye birdie) movies ('BUtterfield 8' with Elizabeth Taylor or Hitchcock's 'Dial M for murder') business, teenagers or pay phones.

This is one of those lighthearted books that you can dip into and read or see something that was missed the first time.

***LOOK AT SOME INSIDE PAGES by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.

I got this book for my wife but I think I enjoyed at least as much as she did. Well-illustrated, this book has photos, artwork and first-hand experiences throughout the history of the telephone in America. I learned more than a few things in regards to how the telephone has worked in the past.

An easy read and a fun book to read through.

Stern and Gwathmey do a wonderful job of presenting the history of the telephone, in words and images. There are quite a lot of photos and other pictures, but the overall effect is not crowded. Rather, the book makes the telephone just about as beautiful as it gets.

Of course, all those photos make for less room for text. But that which is written brings the history of the telephone, and its effect on societies around the globe, to colorful life