Data Empire

FEATURED IN BARACK OBAMA'S SUMMER READING LIST 2026
A NEW SCIENTIST AND NPR SUMMER READING PICK
AS RECOMMENDED BY THE FINANCIAL TIMES

Data shaped empires. Now it's shaping our future. A groundbreaking 11,000 year global history from clay tablets to the algorithmic state, perfect for readers of Nexus and The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.

'The new history of mankind demanded by our times' Jaron Lanier, author of Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Right Now

'Breathtaking in its scope and enormously fulfilling in its depth' Lewis Dartnell, author of Being Human

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.

It’s time to decide. Will technology serve democracy or replace it?

'Essential reading for understanding the opportunities and dangers of the technological revolution now transforming our world' Jonathan Kennedy, author of Pathogenesis

'This brilliant, readable book offers a striking new historical perspective' Corinne Fowler, author of Our Island Stories