Sweeping narrative of the technological advances, events, and personalities that have made radio and television a dominant force in contemporary society.

Tells how radio and television became an integral part of American life, of how a toy became an industry and a force in politics, business, education, religion, and international affairs.

During the iQSo's, in a frontier atmosphere of enterprise and sharp struggle, an American television system took shape. But even as it did so, itspioneers pushed beyond American borders and became programmers to scores of other nations. In its first decade United States television was already a world phenomenon. Since American radio had for some time had international ramifications, American images and sounds were radiatingfrom transmitter towers throughout the globe. They were called entertainment or news or education but were always more. They were a reflection of a growing United States involvement in the lives of other nationsan involvement of imperial scope. The role of broadcasters in this American expansion and in the era that produced it is the subject matter of The Image Empire, the last of three volumes comprising this study.

This selection of essays, articles, lectures, and other writings by Erik Barnouw, dean of American media scholars, chronicles athe phenomenon of old media giving way to new, and then being replaced by them, as the ghosts of old media rise in new forms.a In Media Lost and Found, the sixteenth century will introduce us to early stirrings of photography, as well as the rise of ablack lists, a which have a too-familiar ring within our own lifetime. The collection begins with an article on documentary film pioneer Robert Flaherty. Barnouw then moves to a discussion of his Dutch heritage and its role in Western civilization. This is followed by fascinating accounts of ingenious pioneers of camera obscura and magic lantern phantasmagoria, precursors of the magic of motion pictures. There are lively accounts of Barnouwas own experiences, an informative brief history of communications breakthroughs, and an examination of the foibles of media censorship. The final articles discuss the importance of Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray and cinematographer Boris Kaufman, brother of Soviet filmmakers Djiga Vertov and Mikhail Kaufman. In his writing and in his life, Erik Barnouw has been consistently elegant, self-deprecating, affectionate, and redolent of great depths, encouraging us to look for and foster them in our own lives.

This selection of essays, articles, lectures, and other writings by Erik Barnouw, dean of American media scholars, chronicles athe phenomenon of old media giving way to new, and then being replaced by them, as the ghosts of old media rise in new forms.a In Media Lost and Found, the sixteenth century will introduce us to early stirrings of photography, as well as the rise of ablack lists, a which have a too-familiar ring within our own lifetime. The collection begins with an article on documentary film pioneer Robert Flaherty. Barnouw then moves to a discussion of his Dutch heritage and its role in Western civilization. This is followed by fascinating accounts of ingenious pioneers of camera obscura and magic lantern phantasmagoria, precursors of the magic of motion pictures. There are lively accounts of Barnouwas own experiences, an informative brief history of communications breakthroughs, and an examination of the foibles of media censorship. The final articles discuss the importance of Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray and cinematographer Boris Kaufman, brother of Soviet filmmakers Djiga Vertov and Mikhail Kaufman. In his writing and in his life, Erik Barnouw has been consistently elegant, self-deprecating, affectionate, and redolent of great depths, encouraging us to look for and foster them in our own lives.

Tube of Plenty is an abridgement of Erik Barnouw's classic 3-volume History of Broadcasting in the United States. The paperback edition was first published in 1976 and a second edition in 1982.

Much has happened in television in the 1980s; the decline of the three major networks, the expansion of cable and satellite television, film channels like Home Box Office, the success of ESPN (sports), and MTV (pop music), and the increased way in which the White House in Washington has managed and controlled national news and its contents. Barnouw has added an extensive chapter dealing with the changes of the 1980s and looking ahead to the 1990s.

This is the second major revision of a book universally acclaimed as the definitive history of the documentary film. The final section has been completely rewritten and expanded to take into account the major films and trends of the past nine years. Particular attention has been paid to the growth of documentary film-making in the Soviet Union since Glasnost and the corresponding expansion in the United States, including Ken Burns's The Civil War, which broke all audience records for Public Television in 1990.