Masters of the Word: How Media Shaped History from the Alphabet to the Internet

Summary

In "Masters of the Word," William Bernstein embarks on a captivating journey through the ages, revealing how the word—spoken, written, and printed—became a powerful tool of authority and change. With the finesse of a historian and the passion of a storyteller, the author traces the path from Sumerian tablets to the digital era, showing how the evolution of communication shaped civilizations, raised empires, and toppled tyrannies. Bernstein masterfully weaves together the fates of remarkable individuals, pivotal inventions, and dramatic events to demonstrate that those who command the word can alter the course of history. The book becomes not only a chronicle of the evolution of information, but also a meditation on the nature of human freedom, power, and progress.