The Square and the Tower
The Square and the Tower tells the brilliant recasting of the turning points in world history, as a collision between old power hierarchies and new social networks. The 21st century has been hailed as the Age of Networks. However, The Square and the Tower argues that networks have always been with us, from the structure of the brain to the food chain, from the family tree to freemasonry. 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 can transform our understanding of both the past and the present.
Praise for The Square and the Tower
"Niall Ferguson's The Square and the Tower brilliantly illuminates the great power struggle between networks and hierarchies that is raging around the world today. As a software engineer steeped in the theory and practice of networks, I was deeply impressed by this book's insights. Silicon Valley needed a history lesson and Ferguson has provided it."
— Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Alphabet, the parent company of Google
“Captivating and compelling. Whether describing the surprisingly ineffective 18th-century network of the mysterious Illuminati that continue to be the subject of crank conspiracy theorists or the shockingly effective 20th-century network of Cambridge University spies working for the Soviets, Ferguson manages both to tell a good story and provide important insight into the specific qualities that power successful networks.”
— The New York Times
"Niall Ferguson has again written a brilliant book... His short chapters are lucid snapshots of a world history of Towers and Squares, filled with gracefully deployed learning... THE SQUARE AND THE TOWER is always readable, intelligent, original. You can swallow a chapter a night before sleep and your dreams will overflow with scenes of Stendhal’s The Red and the Black, Napoleon, Kissinger. In 400 pages you will have restocked your mind. Do it."
— The Wall Street Journal
"A wide-ranging and provocative tour through the history of human connectivity, pre- and post-high tech. Ferguson also ladles out illuminating doses of networking theory and analysis of the threat that growing political and economic complexity poses to established hierarchies and institutions."
— Inc.com