ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on key concepts discussed in various chapter of this book. Priscilla Coit Murphy explores the significant role of the book What a Book Can Do that played in the modern environmental movement. She is part of a larger scholarly tradition that frames books as 'agents of change'. Book historians share Murphy's optimism about the transformational power of books. Historians of the French revolution, Robert Darnton and Roger Chartier open to the revolutionary potential of reading and literacy. Nothing better overstated Debsian socialism's influence in 1919 and 1920 than the four-volume report undertaken by the New York State joint legislative committee investigating seditious activities titled revolutionary radicalism, its history, purpose and tactics. The chapter focuses on media historian Robert McChesney who argues that the concentration of media outlets into the hands of a few private firms, especially since World War II, poses a grave threat to American democracy.
