Oh, What a Blow that Phantom Gave Me!
New York: Holt, Rhinehart and Winston, 1973.
First edition, first printing. [viii], 192 pp. Bound in publisher's red cloth titled in gilt on spine. Very Good with light mottling to cloth, paperclip impression to front board, and foxing to textblock edges and scattered throughout. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with light wear and foxing, paperclip impression to front panel.
One of the American anthropologist's major works, the inspiration for a 2003 documentary by the same name. A photo-illustrated examination of media, technology, myth, and meaning across cultures, inspired by a quote from Don Quixote. Carpenter writes, "I think media are so powerful they swallow cultures. I think of them as invisible environments which surround and destroy old environments." To illustrate this point the cover images show Zuni Katchina figurines from 1890 and 1950, the latter clearly a version of Mickey Mouse. The author spent his career studying media ecology and cofounded the iconoclastic academic journal Explorations with the Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan.
Price: $350