Postcards: The Rise and Fall of the World's First Social Network (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781789144840)

A global exploration of postcards as artifacts at the intersection of history, science, technology, art, and culture.

Postcards are usually associated with banal holiday pleasantries, but they are made possible by sophisticated industries and institutions, from printers to postal services. When they were invented, postcards established what is now taken for granted in modern times: the ability to send and receive messages around the world easily and inexpensively. Fundamentally they are about creating personal connections--links between people, places, and beliefs. Lydia Pyne examines postcards on a global scale, to understand them as artifacts that are at the intersection of history, science, technology, art, and culture. In doing so, she shows how postcards were the first global social network and also, here in the twenty-first century, how postcards are not yet extinct.

Author: Lydia Pyne
ISBN-10: 1789144841
ISBN-13: 9781789144840
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Language: English
Published: 12/21/2021
Pages: 256
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.60lbs
Size: 8.80h x 6.70w x 0.90d