Listen Now
Loading audio... Please wait for the audio to load before using controls.
0:0045:58
100%
Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: AudiobookHub Recommendation
Chapter 2: History is shaped by the tug and pull of hierarchies and networks, two forces that share fundamental traits.
Chapter 3: Networks are characterized by key features like centrality, weak ties, and brokers.
Chapter 4: World exploration and the invention of the printing press forged vital new networks.
Chapter 5: The Reformation shook the hierarchical foundations and kick-started a new era of networks.
Chapter 6: The Enlightenment, and both the American and French revolutions, were network-driven.
Chapter 7: The nineteenth century saw the rise of reformed and networked hierarchies.
Chapter 8: The British Empire leveraged existing hierarchies to build an empire and spearhead worldwide globalization.
Chapter 9: Two of the twentieth century’s most lethal ideologies both began as networks.
Chapter 10: The postwar years were defined by hierarchy, but by its end the twentieth century saw the reemergence of networks.
Chapter 11: The decentralized networks we know today evolved from hierarchies and faced pressure in the 1970s.
Chapter 12: The early twenty-first century showed that anarchic networks could have a major impact on society.
Chapter 13: Recent events have demonstrated that networks can challenge hierarchies in the West as well.
Chapter 14: Unless regulation is enacted, the future is likely to be both more networked and much more chaotic.
Description
Our networked lives are often seen as a product of the recent past. After all, didn’t the internet, social media, globalized trade and international terrorist networks first emerge in the late twentieth century? Renowned historian Niall Ferguson begs to differ. Providing a sweeping overview of Western history, from the birth of the printing press to the election of Donald Trump, The Square and the Tower (2018) offers a compelling argument that networks have been a key driver of historical change for a very long time and will only become more important in the future.
Who Should Listen
- History buffs who love grand theories about the past
- Anyone who’s befuddled by recent political events
- Social media professionals keen to learn how networks can change the world