The Square and the Tower

你所知道的歷史，都有可能是錯的！
《貨幣崛起》與《文明》作者尼爾．弗格森帶來一個想像世界的全新方式
「尼爾．弗格森是他這時代中最傑出的英國歷史學者」—《泰晤士報》
大部分的歷史是階級制的：它是關於教宗、總統和總理的。如果這只是因為他們創造了歷史檔案呢？如果我們失去了同樣強大但被屏蔽的網絡該怎麼辦？–這些問題不該只留給陰謀論者，即便他們幻想光明會在背後壟斷世界政權？
世界由兩個不同的力量組織而成：階級和網絡
21世紀被稱為網路時代。但在本書中，尼爾．弗格森認為社群網路並非新玩意。從造成宗教改革的印刷工人與傳教士到帶領美國革命的共濟會成員，他們都是破壞教宗與國王舊秩序的網絡成員。在我們進行中的歷史，已來到第二次網絡時代，電腦扮演著印刷工人的重要角色。一但我們明白這一點，過去和未來，看起來將非常不同。
「強大的、節奏明快的敘述」–《衛報》
尼爾．弗格森帶我們通貫古今，從光明會、羅斯柴爾德家族、薩克森-科堡-哥達邦聯、劍橋使徒、太平天國、季辛吉、蓋達組織到現在的推特與川普，從觀察這些網絡的運作再次建構世界，重新看待我們被教育已久的世界觀與它潛在的不同面貌。(文/博客來編譯)
What if everything we thought we knew about history was wrong? From the global bestselling author of Empire, The Ascent of Money and Civilization, this is a whole new way of looking at the world.
Most history is hierarchical: it's about popes, presidents, and prime ministers. But what if that's simply because they create the historical archives? What if we are missing equally powerful but less visible networks-leaving them to the conspiracy theorists, with their dreams of all-powerful Illuminati?
The twenty-first century has been hailed as the Networked Age. But in The Square and the Tower Niall Ferguson argues that social networks are nothing new. From the printers and preachers who made the Reformation to the freemasons who led the American Revolution, it was the networkers who disrupted the old order of popes and kings. Far from being novel, our era is the Second Networked Age, with the computer in the role of the printing press.
Those looking forward to a utopia of interconnected 'netizens' may therefore be disappointed. For networks are prone to clustering, contagions, and even outages. And the conflicts of the past already have unnerving parallels today, in the time of Facebook, Islamic State and Trumpworld.
Reviews
'A great historian ... Ferguson is master of all he surveys' Spectator
'Ferguson's intellect and panache mean that his skillful revision of history will reverberate for years to come' Guardian
'A talented controversialist. He brings a wealth of historical knowledge to bear on big questions' Independent
'He writes with splendid panache and a seemingly effortless, debonair wit' Andrew Roberts
'Ferguson has knack for making long-ago events as vivid and visceral as the evening news' The New York Times