Marshall McLuhan was one of the best-known figures of the 1960s, acclaimed for his contribution to the understanding of modern media and communications, and the involuntary founder of a cult. The early letters in this collection offer a fascinating background to his intellectual growth. The bulk of them contain much preliminary discussion of ideas that later became the subject of the books which established his reputation as a communications expert: The Gutenburg Galaxy: the Making of Typographic Man (1962), and Understanding Media(1964). Revered as an `oracle' and `sage' by his followers and admirers, McLuhan's correspondents included some of the interesting names of the past few decades including Ezra Pound, Wyndham Lewis, Pierre Trudeau, and Woody Allen. Assembled from a large collection, these letters display a sharp intelligence at work, and offer insight into a man whose writings have helped shape our understanding of modern communications.