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Coding Capitalism

Computers and the Remaking of the Postwar US Economy
By Devin Kennedy
Series: Columbia Studies in the History of U.S. Capitalism
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Brief Description
Long before Google, Amazon, or Microsoft, computer technology shaped how people worked, how markets operated, and how businesses became big. After World War II, military officials and their partners in industry looked to the newly invented electronic computer as they sought to cut costs, speed up... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$5299
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Devin Kennedy offers a new history of the digital economy, showing how the computer emerged fromβ€”and transformedβ€”capitalism in the United States.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Long before Google, Amazon, or Microsoft, computer technology shaped how people worked, how markets operated, and how businesses became big. After World War II, military officials and their partners in industry looked to the newly invented electronic computer as they sought to cut costs, speed up labour, manage supply chains, andβ€”they hopedβ€”bring stability to the postwar economy.

Their efforts would shape early computer science and the first applications of computer technology in manufacturing and business, with profound consequences for workers and managers alike. By the 1960s, practices originally developed to improve industrial efficiency were being used by Wall Street, influencing how markets worked and even how traders thought. Digital technology became central to finance, tying together far-flung trading floors and automating decision makingβ€”with alarming consequences, including the 1987 Black Monday crash.

Devin Kennedy offers a new history of the digital economy, showing how the computer emerged fromβ€”and transformedβ€”capitalism in the United States. He traces how computer science and technology were made by industry, which moulded computation to manage factories, financial markets, and entire firms. Drawing on the archives of businesses, computer researchers, regulators, and financial institutions, Coding Capitalism retells the story of the postwar economy and the computer, revealing how midcentury business laid the foundations of the digital world.

Bridging business and economic history with the history of science and technology, this book uncovers the prehistory of big tech and demonstrates how capitalism has shaped computing since its invention.

Series: Columbia Studies in the History of U.S. Capitalism

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    Long before Google, Amazon, or Microsoft, computer technology shaped how people worked, how markets operated, and how businesses became big. After World War II, military officials and their partners in industry looked to the newly invented electronic computer as they sought to cut costs, speed up labour, manage supply chains, andβ€”they hopedβ€”bring stability to the postwar economy. Their efforts would...
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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780231224031

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 07 July 2026

Country: United States

Imprint: Columbia University Press

Illustration: 12 b&w illustrations

Audience: Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 300g

Pages: 320

Collections

American & Canadian History Business & Entrepreneurship Computing & Technology Devin Kennedy Education & Reference History & Archaeology History & Military Non-Fiction Series: Columbia Studies in the History of U.S. Capitalism

About the Author

Devin Kennedy is assistant professor of history and the Evelyn and Herbert Howe Bascom Professor of Integrated Liberal Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

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