<i>Empire and Communications</i> is Innis&#39;s important contribution to the debate about how media influenced the development of consciousness and societies. In this foundational work, he traced humanity&#39;s movement from the oral tradition of pre-literate cultures to the written word to electronic media of recent times. Along the way, he presented a sweeping historical survey of how communications media influence the rise and fall of empires. He traced the effects of media such as stone, papyrus,&nbsp;parchment&nbsp;and&nbsp;paper&nbsp;from ancient to modern times, including the effects of the printing press today. All communication scholars and anyone interested in communication should have this classic book on their shelves.