Herbert Marshall McLuhan, CC (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian philosopher of communication theory.
McLuhan’s work is viewed as one of the cornerstones of the study of media theory, as well as having practical applications in the advertising and television industries.
In his book War and Peace in the Global Village McLuhan illustrates the effects of electronic media and new technology on man using James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake as a major inspiration for this study of war throughout history as an indicator as to how war may be conducted in the future.
McLuhan is known for coining the expressions the medium is the message and the global village, and for predicting the World Wide Web almost thirty years before it was invented.
Although he was a fixture in media discourse in the late 1960s, his influence began to wane in the early 1970s.
In the years after his death, he has continued to be a controversial figure in academic circles.
With the arrival of the internet, however, there was renewed interest in his work and perspective.
His work was a major influence on the School of Communication Arts at Loyola College, Concordia University in Montreal.
Find out more about Marshall McLuhan.
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