This book reflects recent scholarly and theoretical developments in media studies or
Medienwissenschaft. It focuses on linkages between North America and German-speaking Europe
and brings together and contextualizes contributions from a range of leading scholars. In
addition to introducing English-language readers to some of the most prominent contemporary
German media theorists and philosophers including Claus Pias Sybille Krämer and Rainer
Leschke the book shows how foundational North American contributions are themselves inspired
and informed by continental sources. This book takes Harold Innis or Marshall McLuhan (and
other members of the Toronto School) as central points of reference and traces prospective and
retrospective lines of influence in a cultural geography that is increasingly global in its
scope. In so doing the book also represents a new episode in the international reception and
reinterpretation of the work of Innis and McLuhan the two founders of the theory and study of
media.
