Vatican Council and the election of John F. Kennedy in the United States signalled the onset of a bracing spirit of adventure in the Western world, a promise of old certainties crumbling and new worlds in the making. The war in Vietnam soured the atmosphere but hastened the breakdown of social conventions. The sexual revolution, the hippie phenomenon, campus riots, the widespread use of marijuana and LSD and other psychotropic drugs—everything seemed to point to an apocalyptic break with the past.
McLuhan explained it all—even as he continued with his routine as an English professor at the University of Toronto, teaching courses, continuing his seminars at his new Centre for Culture and Technology, arguing with his colleagues in the faculty lunch room. The routine was
