N.D. Batra is Professor and Chairman of the Communications Department at Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont.

• Self-renewing systems; order to disorder through fluctuations; freedom in the goldfish bowl; collectivization of free speech; the right to know in a self-renewing society; different approaches to truth; politics in the republic of television; the American president in the age of "we the media"; the electronic age congress; programming the American mind; communications technology and the human nervous system; essentials of a self-renewing society.

...a fine introductory text for communications and media courses. The writing is clear, the examples very appropriate, and the questions examined of the highest interest. -- Herbert I. Schiller, University of California, San Diego Journalism Quarterly It's an interesting book, with some nice commentary on usually neglected topics... -- Michael Schudson, University of California, San Diego Journalism Quarterly This book provides a refreshing alternative perspective on the role of mass media in the evolution of American society. His observations are intriguing, and his recommendations are sound... Journalism Quarterly This book provides a refreshing alternative perspective on the role of mass media in the evolution of American society. His observations are intriguing, and his recommendations are sound... Journalism Quarterly ...a fine introductory text for communications and media courses. The writing is clear, the examples very appropriate, and the questions examined of the highest interest. -- Herbert I. Schiller, University of California, San Diego Journalism Quarterly It's an interesting book, with some nice commentary on usually neglected topics... -- Michael Schudson, University of California, San Diego Journalism Quarterly