Prologue

Abstract

This chapter begins with the introduction of three men of genius, vision, determination, and fascinating complexity: Lee de Forest, Edwin Howard Armstrong, and David Sarnoff. It explores how information about the world in 1899 came from the World Almanac and Encyclopedia for 1899 and 1900 and the June 1899 issues of the New York Times. The chapter argues that radio was in fact the first modern mass medium. It then analyzes how America's position in the world has changed from a parochial, isolated nation into a significant world power. The chapter highlights the work of de Forest, Armstrong, and Sarnoff from a time when the country possessed unbounded confidence in the power of science and technology, through two devastating world wars, a staggering economic collapse, the New Deal, and the Korean War.