The Vital Network: A Theory of Communication and Society

The authors discuss the role that stories play in the development and maintenance of culture. It is through stories that we learn about our world - what is fact [the literature of knowledge] and what is make believe [the literature of imagination] and how something may move between fact and fiction [or fiction and fact].Within the topic of imagination the authors discuss two roles - the role to inform and the role to entertain - with the importance of both. If as a society we are only exposed to the entertainment we lose understanding and increase the need for more graphic entertainment - an early look at the impact violence in entertainment has on society.The book may have been written in 1978 but it still speaks to the need for literacy, a background in the classics, and a good story.