Published at the moment Marshall McLuhan had escaped the university and become a cultural phenomenon, McLuhan: Pro & Con collects twenty-one essays attempting to work out whether he was prophet, provocateur, charlatan, or some irritating combination of the three.

Contributors take on the ideas that made McLuhan famous: media as extensions of the human senses, the distinction between “hot” and “cool” media, electronic communication as a force reorganising consciousness, and, inevitably, “the medium is the message.” Joyce, Finnegans Wake, technological determinism, advertising, television, mass culture and the strange sensory politics of media all pass through the argument. The essays range from sympathetic explanation to pretty gleeful demolition. 

It's a great look at McLuhan before the verdict on him had hardened into textbook shorthand. Contributors include Hugh Kenner, Christopher Ricks, Neil Compton, Tom Nairn, George Wagner, Kenneth Burke, Richard Kostelanetz and James W. Carey. Rather than another introduction to McLuhan, this is a record of intellectual combat conducted while the thing being argued about was still happening.

Pelican Books / Penguin Books, Baltimore, 1969. 1969 reprint. Paperback, 308 pp. Covers show moderate rubbing, scuffing and edge wear, with light creasing and age-toning. Binding firm; internally clean. Good condition.