Abstract
This is the seventh and last book in a collection of writing dealing with the history and development of public relations (PR) practices in different parts of the world. Edited by Tom Watson, emeritus professor of Media & Communication at Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom, the overall series is entitled “National Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations.” Earlier volumes have looked at PR in Asia and Australasia, Eastern Europe and Russia, the Middle East and Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Western Europe, and a volume devoted to historiography and approaches to writing about PR history.
The book consists of the same editor’s preface as earlier volumes, an introduction by the editor, and eight additional chapters by an impressive group of authors. An underlying theme of earlier volumes, also touched on in Watson’s pieces at the front of the book, involves a concern that most treatments of PR history in academic and professional literature, as well as in PR textbooks, have been focused too much on the United States and ignored other parts of the world. Furthermore, existing histories of PR tend to be male-dominated and to take an evolutionary perspective with a set of “great men” credited as advancing the field from days of hucksterism through sequential steps toward the idea of modern, socially responsible, corporate PR (as commonly reflected, and criticized here, by James Grunig and Todd Hunt’s four models of PR).
The chapters include three dealing almost exclusively with aspects of PR development in the United States, one focused specifically on Canada, and four that consider both North American countries. Depending on particular interests, readers are likely to find certain chapters and topics more useful than others, but in the opinion of this reviewer, all offer something of value in considering the history of PR.
An early chapter by Myers presents a content analysis of how the term “public relations” was presented in American newspapers from 1700 to 1880. Lamme, Russell, Hill, and Spector call for expanding notions of who is considered a “pioneer” in U.S. PR history beyond White males, and provide excellent short biographies of suffragette Alice Paul, and long time NAACP PR head Alfred Moon. They also cover fascinating anecdotal information from the first part of the 20th century that PR scholars should find quite interesting. A chapter by Downes, Supa, and Austin looks at lobbying as a PR practice in the United States, dividing the past into four distinct periods dating from 1640 to the present. Their description of uses, objectives, outcomes, and regulation of government PR is thorough and well-presented.
In a chapter devoted to the origins and growth of PR in Canada, Thurlow challenges the “excellence theory” of how the field has developed, and cites Canadian history in making points about developments there. She also provides interesting information regarding terminology and in describing the roles, uses, and perceptions of PR over time in Canada.
Chapters that address both the United States and Canada involve a range of topics and issues. Wright and Flynn write about PR education in the two countries, including developments over time and relationships of professionals to educators. They cover differences and similarities in the status of degrees in PR, the placement of PR programs within university structures, and the content of curricula. Lee, Likely, and Valin’s chapter focuses on government uses of PR by describing how each country has used PR historically and suggesting how government communication is perceived by citizens. Tilson takes something of an anthropological approach in an insightful chapter devoted to PR activities for organizations and individuals involved in entertainment and sports in both countries.
The final chapter, by Gower, is a useful and thought-provoking critique of the body of writing on PR history in North America. Raising and expanding on points brought up by authors of other chapters, she posits that existing histories of PR in the United States and Canada need to be revised. In particular, the contributions of women need to receive much more attention, and definitions of what constitutes PR need to be reexamined to include a broader range of users, activities, symbolism, and message types. Gower also suggests that existing histories are too confined by the “four models” approach and should consider that PR may have been practiced well before the rise of press agentry as the first of those models.
This book was not originally planned as part of the series “National Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations.” Watson’s reasoning for this was that nearly all writing and thinking about PR history has always been from a U.S. perspective, and the purpose of the project was to allow attention to PR developments in other parts of the world. The decision to add a volume on North America was useful, though, as a concluding collection to supplement those about previously less examined parts of the world.
The quality and style of writing varies by chapter, and referencing is incomplete in several places. The first of these is perhaps unavoidable given the number of contributors. The second is rather frustrating, especially in cases where interesting points are referred to with an author’s name in the body of a chapter, but no full citation is included.
Overall, North American Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations is recommended to scholars in the field and in areas beyond PR. It should also be quite useful for anyone teaching PR courses as a source for considering exactly what approach to take and what to include in covering topics related to history.
