Prof. Dr. John Durham Peters

John Durham Peters is A. Craig Baird Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa.  He has published widely on media history and theory, and in fields adjoining media studies such as anthropology, music, philosophy, and religious studies, and social theory. He is the author of many articles and essays, Speaking into the Air (1999), Courting the Abyss (2005), and The Marvelous Clouds: Toward a Philosophy of Elemental Media (2015).  

Publications (excerpt)

Promiscuous Knowledge: Image and Information in Historical Perspective.  By Kenneth Cmiel and JDP. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (contract; in progress).  

The Marvelous Clouds: Toward a Philosophy of Elemental Media. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015. 416 pp.  

Courting the Abyss: Free Speech and the Liberal Tradition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005. 309 pp.  

Mass Communication and American Social Thought: Key Texts, 1919-1968. Eds. JDP and Peter Simonson. Boulder: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004. 531 pp.

Canonic Texts in Media Research: Are There Any? Should There Be? How About These? Eds. Elihu Katz, JDP, Tamar Liebes, and Avril Orloff.  Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003. 265 pp.  

Speaking into the Air: A History of the Idea of Communication. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999. 293 pp.