‘More than a quaint history, Postcards offers a personal and investigative homage to a lost art. Pyne makes a persuasive case for viewing postcards as a special kind of technology – one that has been used for revolutionary, propagandistic, and sentimental ends alike. The book brims with historical images which, alongside Pyne’s lovingly detailed explanations, show how that technology has changed over time, making Postcards as intelligent as it is tender.’ – Sheila Liming, author of What a Library Means to a Woman

‘Lydia Pyne’s Postcards expertly tells the story of how this small piece of mail went from saving the U.S. Post Office to being the foundations of our image-based social media platforms. This must-read book is a deeply researched chronicle of how we keep in touch, simultaneously invoking a rich sense of nostalgia while giving readers a meaningful framework for our contemporary moment.’ – Jason Farman author of Delayed Response

‘Fast-paced and delightful, Postcards is chock-full of both heart and information, the whole history of this beloved medium perfectly sorted and explained. Pyne’s wide-ranging research yields a fascinating set of insights on how we represent ourselves in space and time and how we remain close to our loved ones even when we’re far away. A wonderful and highly rewarding read.’ – Jennifer Croft, author of Homesick and translator of Flights

‘In this beautifully illustrated, breezily articulated book, Lydia Pyne introduces us to an analog antecedent to today’s tweets, texts, and memes: the postcard. Condensed within this compact carrier of pithy messages, Pyne demonstrates, are histories of the postal service, printing technologies, and portraiture of the quotidian – as well as humanity's enduring desire for palpable connection.’ – Shannon Mattern, author of Clay, Data and Dirt: Five Thousand Years of Urban Media