Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism Is Turning the Internet Against Democracy

Hailed as "important" (Truthdig) and praised for its "excellent insight" (Patricia J. Williams, The Nation), Digital Disconnect, by activist and "exemplary public intellectual" (Choice) Robert W. McChesney, skewers the assumption that a society drenched in information in a digital age is inherently a democratic one.

A prescient examination of the relationship between the Internet and the economy--one that has become even more relevant since its publication in hardcover--the book argues that capitalism's colonization of the Internet has spurred the collapse of credible journalism and made the Internet an unparalleled apparatus for government and corporate surveillance.

"A provocative and far-reaching account of how capitalism has shaped the Internet in the United States" (Kirkus Reviews) and "an excellent analysis of the problem where a medium with the capacity to empower people is itself becoming a tool of social control" (Daily Kos), Digital Disconnect is both a groundbreaking critique of the Internet and an urgent call to reclaim the democratizing potential of the digital revolution while we still can.


Author: Robert W. McChesney
Publisher: New Press
Published: 09/02/2014
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.10h x 5.40w x 0.90d
ISBN13: 9781620970317
ISBN10: 1620970317
BISAC Categories:
- Computers | Internet | General
- Computers | Electronic Commerce (see also headings under Business & Econ
- Business & Economics | E-Commerce | General (see also Computers | Electronic Commer

About the Author
Robert W. McChesney is the Gutgsell endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of several books on the media, including the award-winning "Rich Media, Poor Democracy" and "Communication Revolution." He lives in Champaign, Illinois.