I am proud to announce my new book Forged in War: How a Century of War Created Today’s Information Society published by Rowman & Littlefield.
Many of what we think of as Information Age tools and media— computers, cell phones, the internet, encryption, and more— evolved directly out of modern warfare. These tools started with World War I (which began not with arms but with England cutting off underwater cables to Germany to isolate it), accelerated through World War II and the Cold War, and now play a central role in both declared and non-declared conflicts like election interference and cyberbattles.
We buy phones, smart speakers, and virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa to help us do our work and answer that one trivia question that bugs us. Yet these devices are data gatherers. They collect, repackage, and monetize our questions, purchases, photographs, and web surfing to form a data industry now larger than the oil industry.
Forged in War takes a critical look at the systems we use and how we ended up in a society that increasingly values data over personal liberty and commerce over the public good. It tells a compelling and previously untold story of how our ideas of information and knowledge reflect the century of war that has militarized our worldview.
R. David Lankes’s work has been funded by organizations such as the MacArthur Foundation, the Institute for Library and Museum Services, NASA, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. State Department. This, his latest book, will help all of us learn how war has shaped our world and how to begin to create an agenda to stand down weaponized data and a media that seeks to own our personal, even intimate, data like one owns a gold mine.
Check out the star review in LibraryJournal: “VERDICT This most recent book by Lankes is ideal for readers seeking a more comprehensive look at information dissemination technology, its context, and its impact on the way in which we now live.“
Available to order from Rowman & Littlefield
SPECIAL OFFER
30% DISCOUNT OFF LIST PRICE USING CODE RLFANDF30
978-1-5381-4895-2 • Cloth May 2021 • $36.00 • after discount: $25.20
978-1-5381-4896-9 • eBook May 2021 • $34.00 • after discount: $23.80