Prof. Zajácz impressively brings archival research and a wide range of scholarly discussions together to make a crucial point: national communications policy is international media policy in the U.S. as elsewhere. One can't understand one without the other. The tense relations between global capital and territorial control are always present.
Thomas Streeter, Professor of Information and Media Studies, Western University, London Ontario, Canada; author of Selling the Air: A Critique of the Policy of Commercial Broadcasting in the United States and The Net Effect: Romanticism, Capitalism, and the Internet
Zajácz invites you to rethink the roots of globalization and power in the twentieth century. Her focal point is the evolving American aspiration for “network control” of global radio telecommunication. She traces the interaction of technology, territory, and capital -- key then and now to debates over the evolution of our international communication infrastructure.
W. Russell Neuman, Professor of Media Technology, New York University, author of The Digital Difference: Media Technology and the Theory of Communication Effects
Deeply researched and meticulously argued, Reluctant Power unlocks the heretofore hidden dynamics of American media dominance established in the early decades of the 20th century. Not just media scholars but all who are interested in ways that today's multinational communications corporations interact with state power will find this a compelling read.
Michele Hilmes, Professor Emerita, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Rita Zajácz tells a story of ambition, intrigue, and policy as the United States sought control over the new communications infrastructure of radiotelegraphy, in the early twentieth century and ultimately challenged the British Empire for global domination. The lessons drawn here are especially timely for the twenty-first century.
Jorge Reina Schement, Distinguished Professor of Communication Policy, Rutgers University
