Cover of Once upon a telephone
Read Time: ~2.3 hr

Once upon a telephone

by Ellen Stern and Emily Gwathmey (1994)

About this book

"The telephone rings. It jingles our psyches, jangles our nerves. We are seduced and soothed, rattled and betrayed by it. Wherever it is--on the desk or street corner, the high seas or highway, in our bathrooms or briefcases--it has, for a machine, an allure like no other. Once Upon a Telephone is a visual history of this indispensable and inescapable apparatus--with an emphasis on the days before 800s, 900s, voice mail, and FAX. Lavishly illustrated in full color with a wealth of twentieth-century ephemera--everything from movie stills to matchbooks--and including excerpts from a variety of literary sources, Once Upon a Telephone is a spirited tribute to operators, directories, phone booths, and, of course, the appliance itself. The evolution of telephony irreversibly altered conventions of modern romance and constructions of power; Once Upon a Telephone is the only work in existence to chronicle these changes in such a comprehensive and entertaining fashion."--Jacket.

Setting / LocationGlobal
Story EraModern Era
Protagonist / CoreOnce upon a telephone Lead Character

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Once upon a telephone by Ellen Stern and Emily Gwathmey | Literally Just Books