Tube: The Invention of Television (Sloan Technology Series)

During the 50 years since it first became commercially viable, television has become the undisputed master of communications media, revolutionizing the way postwar generations have viewed the world. Yet almost no one in America knows how television was created, or who created it. In this anecdotal history of ingenuity, innovation, and determination, the authors reveal how the marvel of television came about. of photos.

"Sir Thomas Beecham says he believes that television can do much to improve the musical taste of the nation. " -- The London Times, September 1, 1936

"It is probable that television drama of high caliber and produced by first-rate artists will materially raise the level of dramatic taste of the American nation." -- David Sarnoff

"Television? The word is half Greek and half Latin. No good will come of it." -- C.P. Scott, editor, Manchester Guardian, 1928

Having been involved with the Internet since 1981, I have watched discussions about the promise and perils of computer networks with an ever-growing suspicion that this drama had been played out before. In 1992, I began collecting books, articles, and data about the early history of telephony, radio, and television, with an eye toward writing a history of these past technologies that would enlighten current debates. Thankfully, Fisher and Fisher have written the book about the history of television that I would have written--and in a much more expert fashion than I could have hoped.

In the tradition of the Sloan Foundation Technology Series other superb books (such as The Invention That Changed the World (about radar) and Computer: A History of the Information Machine), this is technological history at its best: informed about technology and the institutional and commercial matrices within which it works, and populated by a fully-realized cast of eccentric geniuses, captains of industry, and multinational corporations jockeying for mastery of a jillion-dollar industry. Very Highly Recommended.