"[I]deal for readers seeking a more comprehensive look at information dissemination technology, its context, and its impact on the way in which we now live." Library Journal, Starred Review The tools of our information age-from search engines to data mining to smart appliances-grew directly out of conflicts from World War I to the present day. Explore how today's Information Society reflects a worldview shaped by a century of war.

Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: From Alert to a Promise to the Reader -- I. DATA -- 1. Common Carriers: From Telegraphs to Internet Kill Switches -- 2. Encryption: From Zimmermann to the Monetized Self -- 3. Massive-Scale Computing: From Depth Bombs to Deep Learning -- 4. The Internet: From Hydrogen Bombs to 5G -- 5. The World Wide Web: From CERN to Facial Recognition -- 6. Dataism: From Reducing Noise to Reducing People -- Data Waypoint: The Span of the Knowledge Infrastructure -- II. MEDIA -- 7. Propaganda: From Influencing Minds to Manipulating Brains -- 8. Memory Organizations: From Weaponized Librarianship to a Digital Dark Age -- 9. Media Consolidation: From Steamboat Willie to Disney+ -- 10. Trust: From Walter Cronkite to Saul Alinsky -- Media Waypoint: The Weaponized Knowledge Infrastructure -- III. SOCIETY -- 11. Certainty: From Clockwork to Complexity -- 12. Pandemic: From the Spanish Flu to COVID-19 -- 13. People: From Empty Campuses to Open Arms -- 14. Technology: From Zoom Bombs to the Shin Bet -- 15. Sources: From Swans in Venice to Floods in New Orleans -- 16. Policy: From a Commodity to a Public Good -- Society Waypoint: From Chemical Warfare to Healing the World -- Excursus: On the Joys of Writing and How to Check My Facts -- Index -- About the Author.

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