“Books Are Dead,
Long Live Books”
Chapter in Rethinking Media Change: The Aesthetics of Transition, David Thorburn and Henry Jenkins, eds.
This short review of predictions of the end of books spans the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, with an eye to contemporary predictions that books as we know them may soon disappear. The nature of the sources, orientations, and underlying assumptions of these predictions is explored. The analysis reflects on the need to consider books as part of the media system, taking into account not only social, economic, and cultural issues but also the practitioners' perspectives.
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