ABSTRACT
In Democracy and Its Discontents, Daniel Boorstin summarized his version of American history with the comment that “perhaps the most important single change in human consciousness in the last century, and especially in the American consciousness, has been the multiplying of the means and forms of what we call ‘communication’ ” (1974: 7). Boorstin’s wavering conclusion is common enough, even unexceptional, though it remains largely uninvestigated. But is it true?
