an arsonist!” (Letters , 1987 p.398 [1970])

The academic excommunication of McLuhan did not 
eliminate his influence. To the careful eye, his 
insights (acknowledged and unacknowledged) 
nestle in the texts of an astonishing array of 
scholars, artists, and public intellectuals. Cast in 
an academic morality fable as the rogue scholar 
who refused to play by the rules, the resonance of 
his ideas with life outside the ivory towers ensured 
their survival. Circling the wagons could not save 
the academy from the transformations McLuhan 
had diagnosed.