Trending Bestseller

Data Empire

No reviews yet Write a Review
Paperback / softback
480 Pages
13 October 2026
RRP: $36.99
$36.00
Ships in 2-5 business days

Delivery estimate

Hurry up! Current stock:
This groundbreaking 11,000 year history argues that empire was never just about weapons or ships - it was built on collecting information on us, to rule us. Perfect for readers of Nexus and The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.

We live in an era when trading our information for access can feel harmless or inevitable - yet from targeted advertising to mass surveillance, data shapes the course of our lives. How did it gain the power it now holds over us?

Long before writing existed, at the dawn of civilisation in Mesopotamia, rulers pressed marks into clay to keep track of land, people and grain. To rule, they had to keep count. It is no accident, then, that the first written name in human history was neither a god nor a king, but an accountant. As ships and navigation expanded our horizons, a new age of European empires took control of more than 80 per cent of the world's surface, using colonial censuses, maps and ledgers to decide who belonged, who owed, and who could be sacrificed. Today, a handful of private brokers increasingly define what we see and what is real.

Taking readers from ancient cave markings and knotted strings to the algorithmic state, Dartmouth professor Roopika Risam reveals how data has always been the seed of power: a technology of control that has shaped civilizations and upheld empires. Provocative, humane and sweeping in scope, Data Empire challenges us to decide whether we will allow a new set of data empires to hardwire inequality into the next century, or fight for systems that work for the benefit of all.

You Can Find This Title In

    Product Details
    ISBN-13
    9781911709824
    Author
    Roopika Risam
    Publisher
    RANDOM HOUSE UK
    Published
    13 October 2026
    Format
    Paperback / softback
    Pages
    480

    This product hasn't received any reviews yet. Be the first to review this product!

    RRP: $36.99
    $36.00
    Ships in 2-5 business days

    Delivery estimate

    Hurry up! Current stock:

    Data Empire

    RRP: $36.99
    $36.00

    Description

    This groundbreaking 11,000 year history argues that empire was never just about weapons or ships - it was built on collecting information on us, to rule us. Perfect for readers of Nexus and The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.

    We live in an era when trading our information for access can feel harmless or inevitable - yet from targeted advertising to mass surveillance, data shapes the course of our lives. How did it gain the power it now holds over us?

    Long before writing existed, at the dawn of civilisation in Mesopotamia, rulers pressed marks into clay to keep track of land, people and grain. To rule, they had to keep count. It is no accident, then, that the first written name in human history was neither a god nor a king, but an accountant. As ships and navigation expanded our horizons, a new age of European empires took control of more than 80 per cent of the world's surface, using colonial censuses, maps and ledgers to decide who belonged, who owed, and who could be sacrificed. Today, a handful of private brokers increasingly define what we see and what is real.

    Taking readers from ancient cave markings and knotted strings to the algorithmic state, Dartmouth professor Roopika Risam reveals how data has always been the seed of power: a technology of control that has shaped civilizations and upheld empires. Provocative, humane and sweeping in scope, Data Empire challenges us to decide whether we will allow a new set of data empires to hardwire inequality into the next century, or fight for systems that work for the benefit of all.

    You Can Find This Title In

      This Title Is Categorised As