Walter J Ong's classic work provides a fascinating insight into the social effects of oral written printed & electronic technologies & their impact on philosophical theological scientific & literary thought This thirtieth anniversary edition
- coinciding with Ong's centenary year
- reproduces his best-known & most influential book in full & brings it up to date with two new exploratory essays by cultural writer & critic John Hartley Hartley provides A scene-setting chapter that situates Ong's work within the historical & disciplinary context of post-war Americanism & the rise of communication & media studies; A closing chapter that follows up Ong's work on orality & literacy in relation to evolving media forms with a discussion of recent criticisms of Ong's approach & an assessment of his concept of the 'evolution of consciousness'; Extensive references to recent scholarship on orality literacy & the study of knowledge technologies tracing changes in how we know what we know These illuminating essays contextualize Ong within recent intellectual history & display his work's continuing force in the ongoing study of the relationship between literature & the media as well as that of psychology education & sociological thought