Masters of the Word
How Media Shaped History from the Alphabet to the Internet
William J. Bernstein
- A
- “riveting
- and
- thoroughly
- researched”
- history
- of
- language
- technology’s
- effect
- on
- society
- across
- millennia—from
- Sumerian
- syntax
- to
- social
- media
- hashtags
- (Phil
- Lapsley).Writing
- was
- born
- thousands
- of
- years
- ago
- in
- Mesopotamia.
- Spreading
- to
- Sumer,
- and
- then
- Egypt,
- this
- revolutionary
- tool
- allowed
- rulers
- to
- extend
- their
- control
- far
- and
- wide,
- giving
- rise
- to
- the
- world’s
- first
- empires.
- When
- Phoenician
- traders
- took
- their
- alphabet
- to
- Greece,
- literacy’s
- first
- boom
- led
- to
- the
- birth
- of
- drama
- and
- democracy.
- In
- Rome,
- it
- helped
- spell
- the
- downfall
- of
- the
- Republic.
- Later,
- medieval
- scriptoria
- and
- vernacular
- bibles
- gave
- rise
- to
- religious
- dissent,
- and
- with
- the
- combination
- of
- cheaper
- paper
- and
- Gutenberg’s
- printing
- press,
- the
- fuse
- of
- Reformation
- was
- lit.The
- Industrial
- Revolution
- brought
- the
- telegraph
- and
- the
- steam
- driven
- printing
- press,
- allowing
- information
- to
- move
- faster
- and
- wider
- than
- ever
- before
- through
- the
- invention
- of
- the
- newspaper.
- But
- along
- with
- radio
- and
- television,
- these
- new
- technologies
- were
- more
- easily
- exploited
- by
- the
- powerful,
- as
- seen
- in
- Germany,
- the
- Soviet
- Union,
- even
- Rwanda,
- where
- radio
- incited
- genocide.With
- the
- rise
- of
- carbon
- duplicates
- (Russian
- samizdat),
- photocopying
- (the
- Pentagon
- Papers),
- the
- internet,
- social
- media,
- and
- cell
- phones
- (the
- recent
- Arab
- Spring)
- more
- people
- have
- access
- to
- communications,
- making
- the
- world
- more
- connected
- than
- ever
- before.
- This
- “accessible,
- quite
- enjoyable,
- and
- highly
- informative
- read”
- will
- change
- the
- way
- you
- look
- at
- technology,
- history,
- and
- power
- (Booklist).“[Bernstein]
- enables
- us
- to
- see
- what
- remains
- the
- same,
- even
- as
- much
- has
- changed.”
- —Library
- Journal,
- “Editors’
- Picks”“It
- brims
- with
- interesting
- ideas
- and
- astonishing
- connections.”
- —Phil
- Lapsley,
- author
- of
- Exploding
- the
- Phone:
- The
- Untold
- Story
- of
- the
- Teenagers
- and
- Outlaws
- Who
- Hacked
- Ma
- Bell“[Bernstein’s]
- narrative
- is
- succinct
- and
- extremely
- well
- sourced.
- .
- .
- .
- [He]
- reminds
- us
- of
- a
- number
- of
- technologies
- whose
- changed
- roles
- are
- less
- widely
- chronicled
- in
- conventional
- histories
- of
- the
- media.”
- —The
- Irish Times
pro-mbooks3 : libris
