But he is far more than that. A cha­ris­matic figure, whose remarkable per­ception propelled him onto the inter­national stage, McLuhan became the prophet of the new information age.

In his own time he drew both ac­col­ades and criticism for his intuitive vision, his steady stream of thought-provoking metaphors, and fast-for­ward glimpses into a world where software would eclipse hardware and the power of mass media would eclipse the power of government. The information super­high­way fulfilled his perceptive ob­ser­va­tion that the world would ultimately become a "global village."