@article{1402171,
      recid = {1402171},
      author = {Bernstein, William J.,},
      title = {Masters of the word : how media shaped history, from the  alphabet to the Internet /},
      pages = {1 online resource (359 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of  plates) :},
      abstract = {From the birth of writing in Mesopotamia to the  technologies of today, this work documents the technology  of media, a revolutionary tool that allowed rulers to  extend their control far and wide, giving rise to the  world's first empires. In this book the author chronicles  the history of media, starting with the origin of writing  thousands of years ago in Mesopotamia. The revolutionary  tool gave rise to the world's empires and the birth of  drama and democracy. But it is not just new communication  technologies that have changed the world, it is access to  them. Vernacular bibles gave rise to religious dissent, but  it was only when the combination of cheaper paper and  Gutenberg's printing press drove down the cost of books by  97 percent that the fuse of Reformation was lit. The  Industrial Revolution allowed information to move faster  and farther than ever before, though it concentrated power  and enabled totalitarian governments. With the twenty-first  century boom of the mobile Internet, control of media has  again spread, and the world is both more connected and  freer than ever before. -- From back cover.},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/1402171},
}