"This phosphorescent book shows genius in every chapter. Each is intellectual dynamite---from the majestic first where values, morals, ethics and law are woven into an organic whole, to the world of imagination and possibility in the last. Along a horizon of erudite to brilliant, splendidly well-written, this book establishes a fresh way of thinking about ethics "in an age of legality." We've been grinding away with overworked terms---judgment, valuing, morality, jurisprudence. Now a new day dawns, with values embedded in natural language rather than artifice. A star-studded cast working in harmony---some of the finest thinkers in communications, writing with a creativity and verve that is truly astonishing. In the tradition of Burke's Language as Symbolic Action, Ong's Orality and Literacy, and Langer's Philosophy in a New Key, Valuation and Media Ecology is destined for history."---Clifford G. Christians, Research Professor of Communications, University of Illinois-Urbana.

"Media ecology, and its insistence on communication as the environment in which we live, offers a new perspective on communication ethics and valuation in general. If the means of communication change human experience, human thought patterns, and human interaction, then they also influence ethics. These essays explore how speech, writing, print, electronic and digital media affect the public sphere, power, law, morality, and even religion. One can only wonder how we never noticed the key role of communication in the central concerns of human life before."---Paul A. Soukup, S.J., Santa Clara University