A Tower in Babel: A History of Broadcasting in the United States to 1933

A History of Broadcasting in the United States #1

by Erik Barnouw

Sweeping narrative of the technological advances, events, and personalities that have made radio and television a dominant force in contemporary society.

Genres: History

344 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 1966

Reviews

[Nicole C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a very large book, as there are two other volumes that follow after it. However, it took me a little time to read because there is just so much information. Mr. Barnouw takes you through the very first proto-wireless experiments done by Marconi through the inauguration of FDR and his fireside chats. In between, you have mergers between GE, Westinghouse, and AT&T; the origin stories of NBC and CBS; and the sudden explosion of advertising on a medium that originally claimed that would never happen.

This book is mostly about radio, but television, a mere fetus in this era, is slowly reaching its birth. Footnotes abound, but I appreciated that they were on the page so I didn't have to keep two bookmarks on hand and flip back and forth.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely fascinating look at the earliest days of the broadcasting industry. Much of the focus of the book is on the radio industry, of course, but the earliest incarnations of television are also covered. This is a very detailed look at the people, inventions and events that shaped the industry that still commands tremendous influence today. I first devoured this book, as well as the two sequels "The Golden Web" and "The Image Empire" in 1982, and I was thrilled to find a used copy for a reasonable price in the past week.

[John Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simply fascinating. Can't wait to begin the next volume. If you are even marginally interested in radio, then pick this up. I thought I knew a lot, but this has a lot of information that you will not find elsewhere. It's readable, scholarly and just filled with nerdy things. Be still my heart.

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

old fashioned history that doesn't have a lot to say about exclusions/silences/etc but still pretty solid. the big takeaway here is that the early years of broadcasting were very weird, some of it the normal weirdness of 100+ years removed, some of it more interesting bespoke weirdness. for reply-all fans there is a solid appearance by dr brinkley of goat-testicle surgery fame, who is also a semi-important figure in the history of american broadcasting, in addition to being a high-level maniac

[Padraig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good read, although my interest gradually slowed down the more it got into all of the different legal entanglements (somewhat unsurprisingly, a lot of which mirror some of the issues faced these days regarding the internet). It seemed like Barnouw had first hand sources for just about every incident covered in the book so it'd probably be a pretty handy thing to have read if you're doing any kind of academic work on this kind of thing.

I enjoyed it but I'd imagine it'd be improved considerably if you're someone who's more familiar with the US broadcasting system than I am; definitely worth checking out for the first half of the book either way though.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of tubes!