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The Square and the tower : networks and power, from the Freemasons to Facebook / Niall Ferguson.

by Ferguson, Niall. author.

New York : Penguin Press, 2018.

xxvii, 563 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) ; 25 cm

Part I: Introduction: Networks and hierarchies ; The mystery of the Illuminati ; Our networked age ; Networks, networks everywhere ; Why hierarchies? ; From seven bridges to six degrees ; Weak ties and viral ideas ; Varieties of network ; When networks meet ; Seven insights ; The Illuminati illuminated -- Part II: Emperors and explorers. A brief history of hierarchy ; The First Networked Age ; The art of the Renaissance deal ; Discoverers ; Pizarro and the Inca ; When Gutenberg met Luther -- Part III: Letters and lodges. The economic consequences of the Reformation ; Trading ideas ; Networks of Enlightenment ; Networks of revolution -- Part IV: The restoration of hierarchy. The red and the black ; From crowd to tyranny ; Order restored ; The house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha ; The house of Rothschild ; Industrial networks ; From pentarchy to hegemony -- Part V: Knights of the Round Table. An imperial life ; Empire ; Taiping ; 'The Chinese must go' ; The Union of South Africa ; Apostles ; Armageddon -- Part VI: Plagues and pipers. Greenmantle ; The plague ; The leader principle ; The fall of the golden international ; The ring of five ; Brief encounter ; Ella in reform school -- Part VII: Own the jungle. The long peace ; The general ; The crisis of complexity ; Henry Kissinger's network of power ; Into the valley ; The fall of the Soviet Empire ; The triumph of Davos Man ; Breaking the Bank of England -- Part VIII: The Library of Babel. 9/11/2001 ; 9/15/2008 ; The administrative state ; Web 2.0 ; Coming apart ; Tweeting the revolution ; 11/9/2016 -- Part IX: Conclusion: facing Cyberia. Metropolis ; Network outage ; FANG, BAT and EU ; The square and the tower redux -- Afterword: The original square and tower.

Preface: The networked historian -- Introduction: Networks and hierarchies -- Emperors and explorers -- Letters and lodges -- The restoration of hierarchy -- Knights of the Round Table -- Plagues and pipers -- Own the jungle -- The library of Babel -- Conclusion: Facing Cyberia.

A "recasting of the turning points in world history, including the one we're living through, as a struggle between old power hierarchies and new social networks"--Jacket.

Ferguson believes that hierarchical institutions create the archives that historians rely on, and historians are missing the informal, less well documented social networks that are the true sources of power and drivers of change. From the cults of ancient Rome to the dynasties of the Renaissance, from the founding fathers to Facebook, Ferguson examines the rise, fall and rise of networks, and shows how network theory-- concepts such as clustering, degrees of separation, weak ties, contagions and phase transitions-- can transform our understanding of both the past and the present.

A brilliant recasting of the turning points in world history, including the one we're living through, as a collision between old power hierarchies and new social networks. Most history is hierarchical: it's about emperors, presidents, prime ministers and field marshals. It's about states, armies and corporations. It's about orders from on high. Even history "from below" is often about trade unions and workers' parties. But what if that's simply because hierarchical institutions create the archives that historians rely on? What if we are missing the informal, less well documented social networks that are the true sources of power and drivers of change? The 21st century has been hailed as the Age of Networks. However, in The Square and the Tower, Niall Ferguson argues that networks have always been with us, from the structure of the brain to the food chain, from the family tree to freemasonry. Throughout history, hierarchies housed in high towers have claimed to rule, but often real power has resided in the networks in the town square below. For it is networks that tend to innovate. And it is through networks that revolutionary ideas can contagiously spread. Just because conspiracy theorists like to fantasize about such networks doesn't mean they are not real. From the cults of ancient Rome to the dynasties of the Renaissance, from the founding fathers to Facebook, The Square and the Tower tells the story of the rise, fall and rise of networks, and shows how network theory--concepts such as clustering, degrees of separation, weak ties, contagions and phase transitions--can transform our understanding of both the past and the present. Just as The Ascent of Money put Wall Street into historical perspective, so The Square and the Tower does the same for Silicon Valley. And it offers a bold prediction about which hierarchies will withstand this latest wave of network disruption--and which will be toppled.

Originally published: [London] : Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books, 2017.

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