The 20th century might be accurately described as the television century. Perhaps no technological invention in recent history has so vastly affected the American public. An involving mixture of scholarship and nostalgia, this volume offers an intelligent examination of the many ways that American society has shaped—and been shaped by—television. Roman provides thematic chapters on all of television's major genres.

James Roman, author of Love, Light, and a Dream: Television's Past, Present, and Future (Greenwood, 1996), traces the evolution of American television programming from its beginnings as an experimental spinoff of radio broadcasting to its current role as an omnipresent and, some would say, omnipotent force of media and culture.