The Control Revolution

“As systems involving people and machines increase in size, complexity and speed of operation, they confront recurring problems of coherence and control… The contribution of The Control Revolution by James R. Beniger is to describe and analyze the range of methods modern societies use to keep things from falling apart… It argues that today’s dependence on information technology has its origins in practical needs spawned by the Industrial Revolution… The book offers a skillful cross-disciplinary synthesis that draws on hundreds of scholarly studies in the history of technology, business history and social science… [A] challenging, highly readable work.”—The New York Times Book Review

“This book is designed to be the synthetic work on the ‘Information Society’ and its origins, and by all rights it will be. It is beautifully done and is built to last… Everything about the book is intelligent.”—Critical Review

“Rich and fascinating… The book is thoroughly enjoyable reading, partly because the author has pulled the strands together from so many different fields with such obvious thoroughness… I know of no other source that provides such a rich cultural history of our field.”—Information Processing & Managment

“A masterly treatment of some of the most important developments in the making of modern society. Beniger’s book will take its place alongside the four or five books of the past twenty years which have most influenced our understanding of current changes, not just in the United States but the industrial world as a whole.”—Journal of American Studies