Playboy interview: Marshall McLuhan

by Marshall McLuhan

In 1961, the name of Marshall McLuhan was unknown to everyone but his English students at the University of Toronto – and a coterie of academic admirers who followed his abstruse articles in small-circulation quarterlies. But then came two remarkable books – The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962) and Understanding Media (1964) – and the graying professor from Canada's western hinterlands soon found himself characterized by the San Francisco Chronicle as "the hottest academic property around."

Norden, Eric. "Playboy Interview: Marshall McLuhan--A Candid Conversation with the High Priest of Popcult and Metaphysician of Media." Playboy, vol. 16, no. 3, 1969, pp. 53-74, 158.

Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1969

About the author

Herbert Marshall McLuhan was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media theory. He studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge. He began his teaching career as a professor of English at several universities in the United States and Canada before moving to the University of Toronto in 1946, where he remained for the rest of his life. He is known as the "father of media studies".
McLuhan coined the expression "the medium is the message" in the first chapter in his Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man and the term global village. He predicted the World Wide Web almost 30 years before it was invented. He was a fixture in media discourse in the late 1960s, though his influence began to wane in the early 1970s. In the years following his death, he continued to be a controversial figure in academic circles. However, with the arrival of the Internet and the World Wide Web, interest was renewed in his work and perspectives.

Reviews

[RK Byers · Rating 5 out of 5]

the man was a prophet.