'Menke has assembled an astonishingly rich archive of primary material, unearthing anecdotes and historical consiliences that play no small part in ramifying and finessing the transitions that link together the various sections of his study … crystal clear in its formulations … and carefully argued throughout …' Aaron Worth, Victorian Studies
Introduction – inventing media and their meanings; 1. A message on all channels – the unification of humanity; 2. Fictions of the Victorian telephone – the medium is the media; 3. New media, new journalism, New Grub Street – unsanctified typography; 4. The sinking of the triple decker – format wars; 5. Writers of books – the unmediated novel; 6. Words fail – occulting media into information; 7. A Connecticut Yankee's media wars – from orality to obliteracy; After words – the end of the book.