Parchment, Printing, and Hypermedia [Paperback]

Ronald Deibert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0231107137 | ISBN-13: 978-0231107136 0

Interweaving media theory and historical analysis, this book explores the effect new digital-telecommunication technologies, which Deibert calls hypermedia, will have on the distribution of political power in the next century. Deibert tracks the transformation of Europe from the medieval to the modern and then turns to the hypermedia age, where new digital technologies such as the Internet, encryption, and high-resolution satellite imaging favor nonterritorial institutions and communities, shifting political authority and policymaking from individual nations to transnational corporations, global financial markets, and nongovernmental organizations and activists.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Depicts the links across some six centuries of history and a vast array of modern and postmodern concepts, leaving the reader with a keen sense of both the continuities and changes that have marked the human condition. The book is a 'must' read for anyone eager to probe beneath the surface of world affairs. -- James N. Rosenau George Washington University

Review

Depicts the links across some six centuries of history and a vast array of modern and postmodern concepts, leaving the reader with a keen sense of both the continuities and changes that have marked the human condition. The book is a 'must' read for anyone eager to probe beneath the surface of world affairs.

(James N. Rosenau, George Washington University )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 334 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press (April 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231107137
• ISBN-13: 978-0231107136
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #181,855 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully rich, November 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Parchment, Printing, and Hypermedia (Paperback)

This book is a stellar contribution to the understanding of how communication technologies affect world politics. Its rich in historical detail, wonderfully well written, and provocative in its conclusion. A must read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wow, April 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Parchment, Printing, and Hypermedia (Paperback)

Deibert has written a book that gives an awesome portrayal of the way in which information technologies interact with society and political forces. I would say that after having read this book I now have a much better grasp of a truly sophisticated understanding of the causal relationship between society and communications. This is a great contribution to medium theory.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Read & Informative Too, December 30, 2009

By 

Pat Munday "EcoRover" (Butte America) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Parchment, Printing, and Hypermedia (Paperback)

I first used Deibert's text in a course some years ago, recently found it on my shelf & reread it.

It's a good, solid, authoritative history of communication in Western Culture. Deibert commands a range of sources from Elizabeth Eisenstein to Kenneth Gergen, and he does it in three ways that make the book work for popular audiences:
(1) Though Deibert has the academic chops, he does not write like most academics. The book is readable with little jargon and with a well-woven synthetic approach. Even my undergrads -- who generally hate to read ANYTHING -- liked the book and had no trouble understanding it;
(2) Deibert connects the "internal" history of communication with ways in which communication shapes our identity--think Martin Luther's subversive message or postmodern "imagined communities" on the web; and
(3) The book has a thematic glue -- "medium theory" -- that binds the story together. This McLuhanesque approach, even if you disagree with it, is clearly stated in ways that you can test against your own understanding and experience.

Parchment, Printing, and Hypermedia was originally published in 1997 and has not been re-issued. Still, it has not been superseded by another work on this topic.