Books › Broad Band
Broad Band
The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet
288 pages
A vibrant, vindicating journey through the hidden history of the digital age, spotlighting the women who wove the web.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like sitting down with a brilliant, fiercely feminist friend who is eager to spill the historical tea on the tech industry. The pace is brisk and engaging, carrying you effortlessly from the Victorian era of Ada Lovelace to the bustling cyber-communities of the 1990s. Evans writes with a vibrant, journalistic flair that makes complex technological concepts accessible and deeply human. The mood is overwhelmingly inspiring and vindicating, replacing the tired brogrammer mythos with a rich tapestry of female database poets and hypertext dreamers. It is a celebratory, energetic read that will delight history buffs, tech enthusiasts, and anyone who loves a narrative that reclaims forgotten voices and reshapes our understanding of the modern world.
- Mood
- inspiring
- illuminating
- energetic
- vindicating
- Tone
- enthusiastic
- celebratory
- accessible
- feminist
- witty
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- hidden histories · systemic erasure · female innovation · the human side of technology · unsung heroes
- The writing
- Vibrant and journalistic, blending rigorous historical research with a conversational, pop-culture-savvy voice.
- The arc
- Begins with the frustration of historical erasure and builds into a triumphant, inspiring celebration of female ingenuity.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love uncovering the forgotten women of history and anyone fascinated by the human stories behind the screens we use every day.
Content notes
- sexism
- workplace discrimination
- historical erasure
About the book
"The history of technology you probably know is one of men and machines, garages and riches, alpha nerds and brogrammers. But the little-known fact is that female visionaries have always been at the vanguard of technology and innovation--they've just been erased from the story. Until now. Women are not ancillary to the history of technology; they turn up at the very beginning of every important wave. But they've often been hidden in plain sight, their inventions and contributions touching our lives in ways we don't even realize. VICE reporter and YACHT lead singer Claire L. Evans finally gives these unsung female heroes their due with her insightful social history of the Broad Band, the women who made the internet what it is today. Learn from Ada Lovelace, the tortured, imaginative daughter of Lord Byron, who wove numbers into the first program for a mechanical computer in 1842. Seek inspiration from Grace Hopper, the tenacious mathematician who democratized computing by leading the charge for machine-independent programming languages after World War II. Meet Elizabeth "Jake" Feinler, the one-woman Google who kept the earliest version of the Internet online, and Stacy Horn, who ran one of the first-ever social networks on a shoestring out of her New York City apartment in the 1980s. Evans shows us how these women built and colored the technologies we can't imagine life without. Join the ranks of the pioneers who defied social convention and the longest odds to become database poets, information-wranglers, hypertext dreamers, and glass ceiling-shattering dot com-era entrepreneurs. This inspiring call to action is a revelation: women have embraced technology from the start. It shines a light on the bright minds whom history forgot, and shows us how they will continue to shape our world in ways we can no longer ignore. Welcome to the Broad Band. You're next"--
Description from Open Library.
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