Broad Band

Broad Band The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet

If you loved Hidden Figures or The Rise of the Rocket Girls, you'll love Claire Evans' breakthrough book on the women who brought you the internet--written out of history, until now. "This is a radically important, timely work," says Miranda July, filmmaker and author of The First Bad Man. The history of technology you probably know is one of men and machines, garages and riches, alpha nerds and brogrammers--but from Ada Lovelace, who wrote the first computer program in the Victorian Age, to the cyberpunk Web designers of the 1990s, female visionaries have always been at the vanguard of technology and innovation. In fact, women turn up at the very beginning of every important wave in technology. They may have been hidden in plain sight, their inventions and contributions touching our lives in ways we don't even realize, but they have always been part of the story. 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. 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. Join the ranks of the pioneers who defied social convention to become database poets, information-wranglers, hypertext dreamers, and glass ceiling-shattering dot com-era entrepreneurs. This inspiring call to action 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.
Sign up to use

Reviews

Photo of Patrick Book
Patrick Book@patrickb
4 stars
Jul 5, 2024
Photo of Matthew Royal
Matthew Royal@masyukun
3 stars
Feb 13, 2023
Photo of Andrew Louis
Andrew Louis@hyfen
5 stars
Feb 6, 2023
Photo of Diane Wang
Diane Wang@dianewang
4 stars
Jan 13, 2023
Photo of Udit Desai
Udit Desai@uydesai
4 stars
Apr 9, 2022
Photo of E S
E S@longflight
4 stars
Apr 8, 2024
Photo of Basia
Basia@alien-observer
3 stars
Nov 7, 2023
Photo of ozdogan
ozdogan@cevahir
5 stars
Feb 10, 2023
Photo of Alexandra Sklar
Alexandra Sklar@alexandrasklar
4 stars
Dec 17, 2022
Photo of Taylor
Taylor@taylord
5 stars
Dec 15, 2022
Photo of Kyrie Melnyck
Kyrie Melnyck@kyriem
4 stars
Feb 16, 2022
Photo of Lewis Smith
Lewis Smith@lewis
3 stars
Feb 16, 2022
Photo of Samantha Wheeler
Samantha Wheeler@ballycumbered
3 stars
Feb 6, 2022
Photo of Aaron Chan
Aaron Chan@aaron1
5 stars
Nov 23, 2021
Photo of luis martins
luis martins@luismrmartins
5 stars
Sep 29, 2021
Photo of K. Mike Merrill
K. Mike Merrill@kmikeym
5 stars
Sep 5, 2021
Photo of Hidde
Hidde@hdv
4 stars
Aug 14, 2021
Photo of Johanna Wellnitz
Johanna Wellnitz@johanna
4 stars
Jul 29, 2021