Changing Concepts of Time: (Critical Media Studies: Institutions, Politics, and Culture)

This classic book, Harold Innis's last, returns to print with a new introduction by James Carey. An elaboration of Innis's earlier theories, Changing Concepts of Time looks at then-new technological changes in communication and considers the different ways in which space and time are perceived. Innis explores military implications of the U.S. constitution, freedom of the press, communication monopolies, culture, and press support of presidential candidates, among other interesting and diverse topics.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Introduction to the Rowman & Littlefield Edition Chapter 2 Preface Chapter 3 1. The Strategy of Culture Chapter 4 2. Military Implications of the American Constitution Chapter 5 3. Roman Law and the British Empire Chapter 6 4. The Press, a Neglected Factor in the Economic History of the Twentieth Century Chapter 7 5. Great Britain, the United States, and Canada

About the Author :
Harold A. Innis was a distinguished political economist who was one of the first to study the history of communication. He served as a dean at the University of Toronto.

Review :
[Innis] attempts to illustrate throughout these pieces one of his favorite maxims: the more the technology of communication improves, the more difficult human communication becomes. Long out of print and now available in this timely new edition, Harold Innis's Changing Concepts of Time was the last book published by one of the twentieth century's most important media scholars. Less well known than its landmark predecessors, Empire and Communications and The Bias of Communication, Changing Concepts expands the media history perspective elaborated in those works and includes essays that speak even more directly to contemporary issues: 'The Strategy of Culture' is rife with ideas relevant to understanding the status of culture in debates about free trade, and 'Military Implications of the American Constitution' yields a historical critique applicable to an assessment of the American military's involvement in today's geopolitics. A new introduction by the eminent communications scholar and long-time champion of Innisian ideas, James Carey, provides a rich contextualization for the essays in Changing Concepts. Students in a variety of media-related fields will find this a valuable addition to their libraries.