000			03105cam a22004215a 4500
999			_c175964 _d175964
008			140708s2013 nyuabf b 001 0 eng d
020			_a9780802121387
082	0	4	_a302.2309 Ber/Mas
100	1		_aBernstein, William J.
245	1	0	_aMasters of the word : how media shaped history, from the alphabet to the Internet
260			_aNew York, NY : _bGrove Press ; _a[Berkeley, Calif.] : _c2013.
300			_ax, 420p.; [16] p. of plates ; maps, 24 cm.
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [341]-395) and index.
520			_aFrom the birth of writing in Mesopotamia to the technologies of today, this work documents the technology of media, a revolutionary tool that allowed rulers to extend their control far and wide, giving rise to the world's first empires. In this book the author chronicles the history of media, starting with the origin of writing thousands of years ago in Mesopotamia. The revolutionary tool gave rise to the world's empires and the birth of drama and democracy. But it is not just new communication technologies that have changed the world, it is access to them. Vernacular bibles gave rise to religious dissent, but it was only when the combination of cheaper paper and Gutenberg's printing press drove down the cost of books by 97 percent that the fuse of Reformation was lit. The Industrial Revolution allowed information to move faster and farther than ever before, though it concentrated power and enabled totalitarian governments. With the twenty-first century boom of the mobile Internet, control of media has again spread, and the world is both more connected and freer than ever before. -- From back cover.
650		0	_aMass media-History;Communication-History; Writing-History.
856	4	2	_3 _u
856	4	2	_3 _u
942			_2ddc _cBK