Forward Through the Rearview Mirror : Reflections on and by Marshall McLuhan

This is an exploration of Marshall McLuhan's life and work in the context of the information age.

The book consists of short prose passages, aphorisms, interviews, letters, and dialogues by McLuhan, interwoven with biographical text by Philip Marchand, and commentary by such cultural critics as Luis Rossetto, Neil Postman, Camille Paglia, and Lewis Lapham.The text is divided into four parts: global village; violence and identity; medium is the message; and extensions of man.

In keeping with McLuhan's style of speaking and writing, the work consists of a series of brief entries, ranging in length from a single line to a page.

The entries have been selected and positioned so that they can be read consecutively as a narrative or randomly as individual ideas.

Throughout, the material by McLuhan appears in a different typeface and colour from the material by others, to make the two clearly distinguishable.

Part book, part magazine, part story-board, this multi-dimensional look at the ideas and life of the man behind "Wired" magazine should appeal to anyone interested in technology, contemporary thought, and popular culture.The contributors are: Tom Cooper; Derrick de Kerckhove; Robert Fulford; Lewis Lapham; Neil Postman; Louis Rossetto; Frank Zingrone; Eric McLuhan; John Fraser; Liss Jeffrey; Philip Marchand; Camille Paglia; and Patrick Watson.