Ithiel de Sola Pool directed the research program in communications at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for thirty years. He was a skeptic of ideologies and resisted manipulation of symbols by political leaders. He believed in the spirit of free inquiry and the contribution of social science to strengthen independent citizen decision making in democracy. Lloyd S. Etheredge, a political scientist and psychologist, was a member of the MIT faculty for eight years and is former director of Graduate Studies for International Relations at Yale University.

• Introduction I: Political Communication 1. Introduction to Political Communication 2. Changing Images: The Role of Communications in the Process of Modernization 3. Newsmen’s Fantasies, Audiences, and Newswriting 4. Deterrence as an Influence Process 5. Contacts and Influence 6. American Politics: Congress and Its Constituents 7. Trends in Content Analysis Today: A Summary Part II: Societal Impact 8. Foresight and Hindsight: The Case of the Telephone 9. Communications Technology and Land Use 10. The Mass Media and Politics in the Modernization Process 11. Four Unnatural Institutions and the Road Ahead Part III: Technology, Policy, and Freedom Editor’s Introduction 12. Tracking the Flow of Information 13. The Public and the Polity 14. Citizen Feedback in Political Philosophy 15. Communication and Integrated Planning 16. Technology and Confusion: The Satellite Broadcast Controversy in the U.N. 17. From Gutenberg to Electronics: Implications for the First Amendment 18. Policies for Freedom

"Ithiel de Sola Pool was the guru as to the impact of the rapidly developing information technology on the quality of life and democratic processes. The essays in this book illumine the field of communications and society with great clarity and brilliant insights. They constitute an essential base for understanding the telecommunications and information revolution." - Henry Geller, communications fellow, The Markle Foundation, Washington, D.C. "ithiel de Sola Pool was a truly creative and innovative social scientist who firmly believed in the merit and strength of ideas developed in open settings. As the Western adage goes, truth makes one free. Ithiel de Sola Pool not only believed in this but also in the creative and emancipatory nature of technologies in making this adage more deeply and widely realized. He was a person always at ease with different ideas, persons, and environments." - Takashi Inoguchi, professor of political science, University of Tokyo; former assistant secretary general of the United States.