Theories of Communication

Theories of Communication is the realization of a project begun in the 1970s with Marshall McLuhan and now brought to completion by his son, Eric McLuhan. This collection of short essays assembles theories of communication from a diverse range of famous people – from Thomas Aquinas and Francis Bacon to Wyndham Lewis and Ezra Pound – and ends with an essay on Marshall McLuhann’ own theory of communication. While the majority of the essays have been previously published, all are seminal pieces in the field. Their presence together in one volume is a significant contribution to the overall task of understanding culture and communication in our time, and will appeal to both scholars and students interested in the work of Marshall McLuhan.

Eric McLuhan received his B.Sc. in communications from the University of Wisconsin, and his MA and PhD in English from the University of Dallas. His doctoral thesis on James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake was published by the University of Toronto Press. He worked for fifteen years with Marshall McLuhan and co-authored two books with him, City as Classroom: Understanding Language and Media and Laws of Media: The New Science. He has lectured around the world on media and society, and has written numerous books and articles.