Thursday, March 1, 1962: 'Global village'

Marshall McCluhan's "The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man" is published.

From the book "The Internet: A Historical Encyclopedia" (2005):

"McCluhan formalized his theories about the changes in consciousness and society brought about by the advent of print culture. According to McCluhan, the 'invention of movable type' by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century, 'forced man to comprehend in a linear, uniform, connected, continuous fashion' -- a way of thinking that had not previously existed, when manuscript culture and the oral tradition that preceded it defined communications. McCluhan argue that those changes in consciousness, particularly the effect of isolation that reading created, opened the door for powerful cultural forces such as nationalism. ... McCluhan also discussed ... his concept of the global village ... the vast collective space that emerged as electronic media broke down the normal physical and temporal barriers associated with print and oral cultures. Thus, with the advent of television, for instance, the nationalism of print media would be supplanted by the globalism of electronic media."

Note as to publication date: Various sources show the book being published anywhere from March 1962 to sometime in the fall. McCluhan's son, Eric, said in a e-mail that the earliest review he knows of appeared in the (Toronto) Globe and Mail in mid-July. Along with other early reviews, he says, this likely indicates the book was published sometime in the spring of 1962. The University of Toronto Press later confirmed that the publication date was March 1, 1962.

* "The Gutenberg Galaxy": @

* "Marshall McCluhan: The Medium and the Messenger" (Philip Marchand, 1998): @

* Short biography from The Canadian Encyclopedia: @

* marshallmcluhan.com: @

* Marshall McCluhan Center on Global Communications: @

* McCluhan Global Research Network: @

* McCluhan Program in Culture and Technology: @

* CIOS/McCluhan Website Project: @

* International Journal of McCluhan Studies: @

* McCluhan Galaxy blog: @

* Source of term "global village" (from Eric McCluhan): @

* 1960 episode of CBC's "Explorations" (note use of "global village"): @

* Book review, American Journal of Psychiatry, October 1962: @

* Video resources (from University of Minnesota): @

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