Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 462
Trim: 6¼ x 9½
978-1-5381-7390-9 • Hardback • January 2023 • $125.00 • (£96.00)
978-1-5381-7391-6 • eBook • January 2023 • $118.00 • (£89.99)
James W. Cortada is Senior Research Fellow at the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He formerly worked at IBM Corporation in a variety of sales, consulting, research, management, and executive positions. His research and writing have focused on the business history of information technology and in the role of information in modern societies. He is the author or editor of more than three dozen books and serves on the editorial board of key journals devoted to the history of information and its technologies. Most recently he co-authored with William Aspray, Fake News Nation: The Long History of Lies and Misinterpretations in America (R&L, 2019) and From Urban Legends to Political Fact-Checking (Springer, 2019); and authored Building Blocks of Society: History, Information Ecosystems, and Infrastructures (R&L, 2021).
Preface
- How Librarians, Scholars, and the New Professions Defined Modern Information
- Second Industrial Revolution Encounters Information
- How Librarians Organized Information
- Early Encounters by Computer Builders
- Mathematicians and Statisticians Create New Tools
- Scientists and Medical Experts Shape Information
- New Business and Government Information Ecosystems
- What Information Economists Created
- Contributions of Political Scientists and Historians to Modern Information
- How Information Evolved
Endnotes
Bibliographic Essay
Index
Cortada provides an eloquent and accessible examination of nearly two centuries of information collection, processing, and use in the professions--from librarians, physicians, and scientists to mathematicians, government bureaucrats, and economists. Throughout, his approach is unique, and his insights are profound.
— Jeffrey R. Yost, author of Making IT Work: A History of the Computer Services Industry
Birth of Modern Facts is an essential read for researchers, scholars, professionals, and students interested in the evolution of information and its impact on society. Cortada’s expertise, comprehensive scope, and engaging writing style make this book a valuable resource for understanding the historical and contemporary dynamics of the information age. Whether as a reference guide or a source of inspiration, this book provides a solid foundation for exploring and navigating the complexities of the information revolution.
— Technical Services Quarterly