Margaret O'Mara

“Silicon Age” is a history of the late-twentieth century United States told through the lens of the high-tech revolution. The permeation of computer hardware and software into nearly every aspect of American life has been among the more significant and astonishing features of the post-1970 era, yet the industry and its people have been bit players in broader scholarly narratives of the nation’s political, urban, and social history. Moving high technology from the periphery to the center of the modern historiography, the project frames high-tech’s ascent as a story of politics and culture (not simply of technology and technologists). In doing so, it addresses and reconsiders important social shifts in the nature of work, the landscape of cities, and in national politics.