The authors present a picture of contemporary man torn by conflicting forces, caught in a psychic house divided against itself, a victim of war between media and machines. Machines, they state, represent the rationalistic tradition which has brought man to the brink of psychic and social disaster. The media they see as offering hope--true individuality, significant community, and actual leisure. Borrowing from psychology, philosophy, sociology, and history, the authors project a synthetic view of man for the 1970s. They predict a revolution in our concepts of education, knowledge, time, work, and politics brought about by the electronic media. Drawing on thinkers as diverse as McLuhan, Marcuse, Freud, and Marcel, they conclude that western man is moving into an age in which the philosophy of culture is essential. (JY)