Erik Barnouw (1908–2001)
Author of Documentary: A History of the Non-Fiction Film
About the Author
Erik Barnouw, 1908 - 2001 Erik Barnouw was born in 1908 and came from the Netherlands to the United States at the age of 11. He attended Princeton University and after graduating, went on to become a radio writer and a producer. Barnouw began teaching radio writing at Columbia University in 1937. show more By 1947, he had founded the division of film, radio and television in the University's Arts Program. He worked for CBS for one year beginning in 1939, writing and editing, and editing for NBC from 1942 to 1944. He served as chairman of the division he had created at Columbia until 1968, retiring from the University in 1973. He was a member of the Writers Guild of America and served as it's chair from 1957 to 1959. In 1978, Barnouw went to work for the Library of Congress as a film and television expert, and created it's broadcasting and motion picture division, becoming it's first chief. In 1970, he produced a documentary entitled, "Hiroshima-Nagasaki, August, 1945" about the atomic bombs set off there. He was then commissioned to write a complete history of broadcasting by the Oxford University Press, and it was this masterpiece, consisting of three volumes, "A Tower of Babel," "The Golden Web" and "The Image Empire," which named him an expert in the field of broadcasting. Barnouw retired from the Library of Congress in 1978, yet continued to write, publishing his last volume, "Media Lost and Found" in the January before he died. Erik Barnouw died on July 19, 2001 at the age of 93 show less
Series
Works by Erik Barnouw
A Tower in Babel (A History of Broadcasting in the United States to 1933, Vol. 1) (1966) 41 copies, 1 review
The Golden Web: A History of Broadcasting in the United States: Vol. 2 - 1933 to 1953 (v. 2) (1968) 38 copies
The Image Empire: A History of Broadcasting in the United States, Vol. 3: From 1953 (1970) 31 copies
Handbook of radio writing; an outline of techniques and markets in radio writing in the United States (1939) 12 copies
Mass communication: television, radio, film, press; the media and their practice in the United States of America (1958) 9 copies
Associated Works
American History, American Television: Interpreting the Video Past (Ungar Film Library) (1983) — Foreword — 8 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Barnouw, Erik
- Birthdate
- 1908-06-23
- Date of death
- 2001-07-19
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Horace Mann School
Princeton University - Occupations
- radio historian
television historian - Organizations
- Columbia University
Armed Forces Radio
Writers Guild of America
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
Library of Congress - Awards and honors
- Peabody Award (1944)
George Polk Award (1971)
Award named in his honor by the Organization of American Historians (1983) - Relationships
- Barnouw, Victor (brother)
- Nationality
- USA
Netherlands (birth) - Birthplace
- The Hague, Netherlands
- Place of death
- Fair Haven, Vermont, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- Fair Haven, Vermont, USA
Members
Reviews
An absolutely fascinating look at the earliest days of the broadcasting industry. Much of the focus of the book is on the radio industry, of course, but the earliest incarnations of television are also covered. This is a very detailed look at the people, inventions and events that shaped the industry that still commands tremendous influence today. I first devoured this book, as well as the two sequels "The Golden Web" and "The Image Empire" in 1982, and I was thrilled to find a used copy for show more a reasonable price in the past week. show less
Fascinating and informative read, especially for aspiring documentarians. The only bad thing is that my viewing list is now twice as long.
It's been decades since I used this, but according to my notes I found it very helpful with an investigation into historiography, so it must cover communications very broadly.
As a photographer and student in taking documentary course work, this is a really good recourse.
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Statistics
- Works
- 19
- Also by
- 2
- Members
- 787
- Popularity
- #32,340
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 5
- ISBNs
- 40
- Languages
- 2