ABSTRACT
This chapter is designed to discuss the foundation for the material you just read—a volume on contemporary communication theory. As such, our approach undoubtedly will be quite different from those of our companion contributors. For the bulk of our exposition, we will rely on history as epistemology. Caveat emptor—our “history” certainly will not be comprehensive. It will of necessity be incomplete and selective, because we have chosen and emphasized events and personalities, issues and trends in order to illustrate and even dramatize the fascinating evolution of communication theory
