Mark Sunderman

“all democratic societies based on the rule of law, on the Tinkerbell Principle: it functioned only so long as its participants believed in it.48”
― William J. Bernstein, Masters of the Word: How Media Shaped History from the Alphabet to the Internet

“Such was the pattern employed by the Romans during their centuries of conquest: first, recruit the ablest soldiers from recently pacified local populations overawed by the legionaries’ size, military prowess, technology, and literacy; second, teach the new troops not only to fight but also to read and write Latin (or, in the East, Greek); and last, employ these intellectually and physically impressive specimens to conquer, pacify, overawe, and recruit adjoining peoples.”
― William J. Bernstein, Masters of the Word: How Media Shaped History from the Alphabet to the Internet

“In short, the Romans conquered most of their known world as much with the deeply institutionalized pen as with the sword, shield, and catapult.”
― William J. Bernstein, Masters of the Word: How Media Shaped History from the Alphabet to the Internet

“The Story of the Telegraph and a History of the Great Atlantic Cable, in which they breathlessly proclaimed, How potent a power, then, is the telegraphic destined to become in the civilization of the world! This binds together by a vital cord all the nations of the earth. It is impossible that old prejudices and hostilities should longer exist, while such an instrument has been created for an exchange of thought between all the nations of the earth.46”
― William J. Bernstein, Masters of the Word: How Media Shaped History from the Alphabet to the Internet