For better or worse, television has been the dominant medium of communication for 50 years. Almost all American households have a television set; many have more than one. Transmitting images and sounds electronically is a relatively recent invention, one that required passionate inventors, determined businessmen, government regulators, and willing consumers. This volume in the Greenwood Technographies series covers the history of television from 19th-century European conceptions of transmitting moving images electrically to the death of TV as a discrete system in a digital age. Magoun also discusses the changing face of television in the displays that people watch around the globe. Television: The Life Story of a Technology discusses significant developments in the technological and social lives of people during the history of the television. It appeals to students and lay readers alike by highlighting key events and people: BLthe American engineers and entrepreneurs such as Vladimir Zworykin and David Sarnoff who ignited the television industry; BLthe bloom of programming choices in tandem with the Baby Boom generation; BLthe developmetn of cable and satellite TV; BLthe Asians who innovated American inventions in videorecording and flat-panel displays; BLthe use of TV in wartime; BLand the new worlds of digital and high-definition television. Based on the latest research, this crisply written, sometimes provocative survey includes a glossary, timeline, and bibliography for further information. Vladimir Zworykin -- whose work ignited the entire television industry BLHow the television industry and commercial programming bloomed in tandem with the Baby Boom generation The late-twentiethcentury expansion of cable television and the decline of the broadcast networks, and the new world of high-definition television. The volume includes a glossary of terms, a timeline of important events, and a selected bibliography of resources for further information.