The Media Creates Us in Its Image and Other Essays on Technology and Culture

“Richard Stivers has created a rich feast for thought in The Media Creates Us in Its Image. . . . Few have written as powerfully as Stivers on the technological threat to true education. . . . While the thinking and research are always deep, the clarity of Stivers’ writing, as well as the universal importance of technology in our lives, invites a wide audience to benefit from this book.”


—David W. Gill, International Jacques Ellul Society





“With this collection of essays, Richard Stivers exposes the realities of life in a technological environment, where efficiency is the watchword. His insights challenge us to respond and act in ways that preserve our humanity. His analyses juxtapose the individual with the collective, organization with disorganization, the visual image with the word, and false with true meaning. Stivers’ erudite mind presents us not with conventional academic exercises, but with urgent matters of existential concern.”


—James van der Laan, Illinois State University





“A highly insightful collection of essays that is useful for both the neophyte and the Ellul scholar that allows the reader two ways of looking at the works of Jacques Ellul. Taken individually, each of Stivers’ well-thought-out essays provides an in-depth exploration of a specific idea in an easily comprehendible style. Taken as a whole, the collection summarizes the vast range of Ellul’s ideas.”


—Franz A. Foltz, Rochester Institute of Technology





“A very good overview of the author’s research to advance our understanding of technique by elaborating the intellectual gift of Jacques Ellul.”


—Willem H. Vanderburg, University of Toronto