The Network: The Battle for the Airwaves and the Birth of the Communications Age

A fluidly written and well-reported story.” (Booklist)“Woolley interweaves an engrossing tale of the evolution of the American communcations industry with colorufl details about the individuals who built the tech, and the regulatory challenges that threatened it.” (Jonathan Zittrain, author of The Future of the Internet—And How to Stop It and Professor of Law and Professor of Computer Science, Harvard University)“Scott Woolley’s presents a lively and informative account of the stunningly successful collaborations and final bitter fight of David Sarnoff and Edwin Armstrong,

Sarnoff had a very different view of who his friend’s enemies were.Many corrupt politicians and corporations saw in Armstrong’s inventions the opportunity to commodify our most ubiquitous natural resource—the air. He would become a visionary captain of the media industry, even predicting the advent of the Internet.In the mid-1930s, however, when Armstrong suspected Sarnoff of orchestrating a cadre of government officials to seize control of the FM airwaves, he committed suicide. This early alliance between high tech and business set the precedent for countless legal and industrial battles ove

"Great Topic, Engrossing!" according to MrTechieGuy. Great topic and an engrossing narrative! Hey, I'm an electrical engineer, so I like this kind of stuff. I appreciate the author's hard work in creating a fascinating narrative describing the early history of wireless communication.I would have given this book five stars except for a few shortcomings that I t. "An excellent telling of the story of radio with Sarnoff front and center" according to Old Enough to Know Better. Empire of the Air told the story of DeForest, Armstrong and Sarnoff and left the impression that Sarnoff was a Machiavellian creep. This book paints a somewhat different picture and returns at least a degree of humanity to Sarnoff's legacy.And what a legacy it is. Sarnoff did not single-handedly build RCA, N. Who knew? Chicago Burbs Remember the lies your teacher told you? Kids used to learn thatEdison invented everything ever related to electricity, not onlylight bulbs but the machinery that controls our city lights.Not true. Edison was a good salesman but George Westinghouse didthe lights. Who knew?Likewise, David Sarnoff, the founder

He studied economics and public policy at Claremont McKenna College and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.. Scott Woolley is a technology and business writer. Formerly a Forbes Telecom correspondent and the magazine’s West Coast Bureau Chief, he has written about technology and business affairs for the MIT Technology Review, Fortune, and <