Information History in the Modern World

'One of the best texts I have read for a long time. The collection has an exciting objective and it forms a coherent whole; students of History and of Library and Information Science will return repeatedly to this book.' - Professor Trine Schreiber, Royal School of Library and Information Science, Denmark 'Information History in the Modern World is a high quality work providing a useful companion to the teaching of this subject at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, and a good resource for students and researchers.' - Dr Gayner Eyre, Aberystwyth University, UK

This edited collection of essays brings together, for the first time, notable scholars from the UK, US and Europe in the field of information history. It explores the key themes and ideas, offering students a diverse taster of information history in practice and relating this historical research to the contemporary information age.Information has a rich but under explored history. The information age of the late twentieth century witnessed the emergence of a new history of information and, in this timely collection of essays, a team of international scholars from a variety of disciplines examines the changing understandings of information in the modern world.

Situating the concept of information in varying historical contexts since the eighteenth century, Information History in the Modern World: Histories of the Information Age:
• explores how this historical research can challenge our perceptions of the information age in the global twenty-first century
• discusses ephemera, wars, imagery, empire, identification and the transience of history in the digital era
• argues that the changing uses, perceptions and manifestations of information helped to shape the world we know today.

Authoritative and approachable, this is an invaluable resource for anyone who is interested in how and why information has become a distinguishing feature of the modern world.