The Late Age of Print

Book excerpt: Ted Striphas tracks the methods through which the book industry has adapted (or has failed to adapt) to rapid changes in twentieth-century print culture. With examples from trade journals, news media, films, advertisements, and other commercial and scholarly materials, Striphas tells a story of modern publishing that proves, even in a rapidly digitizing world, books are anything but dead. With wit and brilliant insight, he isolates the invisible processes through which books have come to mediate our social interactions and influence our habits of consumption. This edition features a new preface in which Striphas considers the stakes of abandoning printed books in favor of digital readers.