Historical Methods in Mass Communication

by James D. Startt, W.M. David Sloan

Book by Startt, James D., Sloan, William David

224 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1989

Reviews

[Zachary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite honestly this is, uh, not a very good book. The ideas it presents are standard and useful, but the approach that the text takes seems more opinionated than is warranted for a legitimate historical methods book, or even as a resource. The authors have a very definite idea of what they think historical research ought to be in mass communication, but don't have a firm grasp on how one goes about doing that. Most chapters end up simply being lengthy lists of resources that researchers ought to use, with awful explanations for what they are and often outdated advice on how to access them. Even in more recent editions of the book, the list-making tendency of the authors is not curtailed, nor is the tendency to lean into outdated, outmoded ways of doing research. The initial chapters of the book may have some value, but there are certainly more interesting, useful, and provocative texts out there that are accomplishing the same goal. Go read those ones instead.