A Social History of the Media: From Gutenberg to the Internet 1st Edition

by Asa Briggs (Author), Peter Burke (Author)

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ISBN-13: 978-0745623757

ISBN-10: 0745623751

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A Social History of the Media
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Written by two leading social and cultural historians, A Social History of the Media provides a masterful overview of communication media and of the social and cultural contexts within which they emerged and evolved over time. The authors retrace the complex and multiple paths of development, exploring the interrelations between communication media and other aspects of social life.

The scope of this book is far-reaching, exploring the history of the different means of communication in the West from the invention of printing to the Internet. It deals with each constituent element in what came to be called 'the media' and discusses, among other things, the continuing importance of oral and manuscript communication, the rise of print, the relationship between physical transportation and social communication, and the development of electronic media. The book concludes with an account of the convergences associated with digital communication technology, the rise of the internet and the phenomenon of globalization.

Avoiding technological determinism and rejecting assumptions of straightforward evolutionary progress, this book brings out the rich and varied histories of communication media. It will be an ideal text for students in history, media and cultural studies and journalism, but it will also appeal to a wide general readership.

From Library Journal

Every new mode of communication provokes passionate debate about its moral and social repercussions. Today we fret over the negative influence of television and the Internet; in the 16th century, it was feared that reading would arouse dangerous emotions, especially in women. Briggs (chancellor, Open Univ.) and Burke (Eyewitnessing) present many such parallels in this overview of media history. They also assert that no medium has ever completely supplanted another. Given their belief in the nonlinear evolution of media, the text moves dizzyingly back and forth, at times verging on stream of consciousness: "The ability to get to Mars would depend on advances in space communications, and this already had its own history in 1960, a point to which we must now return." The index (not seen) and a meticulous chronology should help to alleviate confusion. Readers may feel frustrated, however, by the lack of explanatory notes; the suggested reading for each chapter rarely gives the source for particular quotations or assertions. Recommended for academic libraries needing a general survey of media history. Susan M. Colowick, North Olympic Lib. Syst., Port Angeles, WA

Review

'A masterpiece of compression and synthesis. It manages to omit nothing and yet present itself as something much more readable than a hurried review of a vast terrain. It is thoroughly comprehensive. The styles of the two writers mesh very well together. They have adopted an approach which is partly that of a reference work and partly that of a flowing historical discourse. This work has the virtue of being almost an encyclopaedia and so it will be a vital tool for a wide variety of readers.' Professor Anthony Smith, Magdalen College, University of Oxford

'Recommended for academic libraries needing a general survey of media history ' Library Journal

"An intelligent, scholarly and eminently sensible introduction to the kind of methodological issues it is actually helpful to address" English Historical Review

"A very readable book." European Journal of Communication

"A Social History of the Media is full of illuminating details and quotations. [It] is an ideal textbook for students and a lesson to professional historians that they need to take the media seriously as a subject in its own right." Bert Hogenkamp, IRSH vol. 49 (2004)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Polity; 1st edition (January 28, 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 374 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0745623751
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0745623757
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.22 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.14 x 1.11 x 9.02 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #394,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #155 in Media Studies (Books)
- #1,727 in Communication & Media Studies
- #2,003 in History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
27 ratings

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Asa Briggs

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Alan Ganger

Good information, but

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2011

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The book has a lot of arcane references. It tries to cover a lot of different aspects regarding the impact of communication media, but if you're looking for a "big picture" book, this might not be for you. It doesn't always connect the dots. It jumps between a lot of very specific examples. You sometimes wonder where they pull an example from. Ah, yes, Charles V visiting Bologna in 1529, of course. I remember it well. An example from the chapter on print:

"In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, small books became popular, the octavo, for instance, or the still smaller 12mo or 16mo format, which the famous Venetian printer Aldo Manuzio used for his editions of the classics."

The authors drop a lot of knowledge like this throughout the book, not always with enough context. But it's sort of up to you to follow up with some of these historical events or figures if you want to know more about it.

Edit: Ah, the authors are from the UK? I was wondering why John Logie Baird got more attention than Philo Pharnsworth.

6 people found this helpful

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nonscelus

Dangerous Reading!

Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2016

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Asa is on it in this extensive assessment of media's impact on culture throughout time.

One person found this helpful

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ROBERT OLIVAREZ

Exactly what I expected.

Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2013

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Exactly what I expected I am happy with my purchase and would recommend to anyone who is interested in this book.

One person found this helpful

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Joey

Required Text for Class

Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2014

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required for History of Mass. Comm. class. Long winded

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Amazon Customer

Confusing

Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2019

This book has the worst setup I've ever seen. There is no order whatsoever and for someone who has to skim through this to find certain time periods and events for class, it's awful. It barely provides context when relating one event to another and the order is out of control. It skips from 1400's-1700's and from 1900's back to 1800's. It's just all over the place. I feel like the author just rambled on and didn't bother to make connections or order events.

One person found this helpful

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Perli

this is simply the best and most authoritative history of modern media

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2015

Seminal work, although first published in 2002, already a classic! In historical terms, this is simply the best and most authoritative history of modern media: it analyzes how each historically new media technology, - starting with print, followed mostly by broadcasting and digital media - transformed traditional social practices and created new ones, altering politics, economy, culture and everyday life in the process. It embeds evolution of modern media into developments of modern history, in political, economic and cultural transformations that created modern Western world. Although it is written in more or less in popular style, this is hardcore historical analysis, so not recommended for uninterested and lazy students (I am so fed up with reviews of seminal works that start with platitudes like "this book was part of my studies, but it uses too many new words and it is too complex for my indolent taste"). The last, 3rd ed. published 2009. Although the authors are old, in 2015 Briggs reached 94, I hope for a new edition and urgent publication in Kindle format. (I possess the 1st ed. in Slovenian translation, and had a look at the changes in the last English ed. as well). Most recommended for seriously researchers with background in history, humanities and social sciences.

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phil jones

great read

Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2003

Like other books I've read by Peter Burke, this is a great and informative work. Here he covers the "print revolution in context" showing the who, where, and how of the rise of printing, and discussing it's interaction with the continuing other media types such as oral communication, hand-written documents and visual images (woodcut printing, religious paintings and statuary). He also shows the political and religious conflicts and issues which are locked in a feedback loop with the development of the media.
Fascinating to compare to the rise of modern media types like weblogs in conjunction with the present political discourse.

9 people found this helpful

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Daniel

An Okay Book on Media and History

Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2012

It is easy to read, however the book is jumping constantly in historical time. Then we are in the 1500, then the 1700 and then back to 1600. This sometimes makes it very confusing, and sometimes when reading I don't actually know what time I am in.

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

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phoenix

Wie kam es zu Medien und wie war die geschichtliche Entwicklung

Reviewed in Germany on July 28, 2019

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Das Buch gibt eine genau Beschreibung der Entwicklung aller Formen von Medien von ihren Anfängen bis zur heutigen Zeit. Jeder der an Medien und Medienwissenschaft interessiert ist, muss das Buch gelesen haben.

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abhjkmostwy

good book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 20, 2012

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good book good source of media studying
it covers all important history in this book
some chapters are very good

Mother of Dragonflies

A bit too closeted academically

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 30, 2017

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

I was really looking forward to this book and was puzzled by the very dismissive views of seemingly bored students. First of all, aged eyes say this is a book for Kindle magnifications and not for print.
I gripe that media, which is after all to enlighten, entertain and shock is presented in a somewhat joyless fashion. My A level history teacher was more electrified when she described the sudden success of Protestantism was due to the printing press and the unprecidented dissemination of what one very annoyed monk had nailed to a church door. At times the statements are very parochial...I wanted to know if the Quiet train carriage had been introduced in other parts of the world.
Not only is it slightly dated (2009), but it misses out one component almost completely, (which to skirt around Amazon's auto filters I will describe as the adult entertainment industry.). The p....graphy world is mentioned once, in the context of De Sade, 18th Century only. Ummn OK, VHS tapes, DVDs, glossy magazines, the Internet, all a bit of a driving force for.....If you have heard of the monochrome service WAP (which does get a reference) on mobile phones which tried to present some sort of graphics pre smartphones, I can assure you that there was an attempt to present excited unclothed people on that very early in its introduction. Although I maintain a disinterestedness in the pictoral, it would seem to be a driving force in human lives and education, for good or ill. Since this is also very dated it also cannot ask the question, would Savile have got away with it in the instant communication era? Yesterday a political candidate stepped down because of his dated views, other politicians have recordings of their contrary viewpoints shared and brass it out. Actresses have private moments that get hacked and broadcast. This really isn't a book of the moment, but it wasn't in 2009 either, or 1989.

2 people found this helpful

Tony Jones

An intriguing introduction to the topic.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 5, 2017

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

At around 340 pages, including reading lists and an interesting timeline, this book can't cover everything about media, so focuses on context and impact. Subtitled "from Gutenburg to the Internet" it covers those (to an extent in the case of the latter), and many other things. There's a lot on technology and communication (both electronic and physical, such as the train system) and is a decent if occasionally superficial survey of the topic.
Some of the more important chapters include New Processes and Patterns (the evolution of transport and communications) and Information, Education and Entertainment - three broad buckets into which to pace (most) media.
As an introduction to the subject it is excellent, no doubt many will wish to dig deeper into some of the topics, but this book wisely avoids that in the interests of size / accessibility.
Why 4*? Well the cyberspace section is very thin (and is so current we can't yet fully judge how things like social media are really evolving society, and the timeline while of some interest doesn't integrate well into the book as a whole. I also felt the chapter on convergence could be evolved further, but I am only a casual reader of this subject, so may well be wrong

K. Petersen

A MUST Read Explanation As To How Our Media Got To Where It Is

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 6, 2017

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

One only needs to look at the authors (Asa Briggs and Peter Burke) to know that this is going to be a book worth reading and it certainly does not disappoint.

The media holds an ever increasing grip on our way of life: whether it is the way in which our views are channelled by news programmes, or the rise of social media assuring us that our beliefs are the 'norm'. This book gives a history of the media, from its earliest guise to the twenty-first century megalith.

If one is to understand the present status of media companies, it is important to know the history. I thought that I had a working understanding of our media industry but, I found much of which I was simply unaware in this fascinating book. If you are a student of the media, you NEED to read this: if you aren't, you OUGHT to read it!

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