When Old Technologies Were New: Thinking About Electric Communication in the Late Nineteenth Century
Description
This insightful history examines how the telephone and electric light were imagined, debated, and integrated into everyday life during the late nineteenth century, when electronic communication began reshaping modern society. Drawing on engineering journals and popular media, it explores how these technologies unsettled boundaries between private and public life, transformed social behavior, and inspired both excitement and anxiety. It also traces early experiments in telephone-based broadcasting, revealing the struggle to define who controlled emerging media and what kinds of culture they would transmit. Engaging and wide-ranging, the book shows that new technologies are never merely technical innovations—they are also powerful forces in the negotiation of social values, identity, and authority.
Available Editions
paperback
Oxford University Press, USA
Published May 24, 1990
278 pages
ISBN: 9780195063417
Reviews
No ratings yet. Be the first!
No written reviews yet.
Details
First Published
1988
Language
eng
Content Warnings
Content and trigger warnings for When Old Technologies Were New: Thinking About Electric Communication in the Late Nineteenth Century by Carolyn Marvin.