When the Sony Walkman debuted in 1979, people were enthralled by the novel experience it offered: immersion in the music of their choice, anytime, anywhere. But the Walkman was also denounced as self-indulgent and antisocial-the quintessential accessory for the “me” generation.

In Personal Stereo, Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow takes us back to the birth of the device, exploring legal battles over credit for its invention, its ambivalent reception in 1980s America, and its lasting effects on social norms and public space. Ranging from postwar Japan to the present, Tuhus-Dubrow tells an illuminating story about our emotional responses to technological change.

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

Author: Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow
Editors: Christopher Schaberg / Ian Bogost
Series: Object Lessons
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Pages: 152pp
Size: 5 x 7.5
Notes: paperback
Release Date: September 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1501322815