The Square and the Tower: Networks, Hierarchies and the Struggle for Global Power

甫出版馬上登上紐約時報暢銷榜！

「尼爾‧弗格森再次寫出一本傑作，四百頁的內容將重新餵飽你的心靈」─華爾街日報

歷史有等級制度，歷史大多都是關於統治者的故事，但有沒有可能是因為史學家能仰賴的資料，都是由統治者創造出來，所以當然刪去了其他部分的故事？

統治者擁有國家的生殺大權，所有重要的決策都由站在高塔上的統治者決定，他們的重要性人能敵，但真正傳播資訊的，卻是在高塔下四方聚集的人們，一人傳一人，形成了互聯網，沒有互聯網，只有統治者在塔上獨自高歌也是沒有用的。

現在人自稱自己生活在互聯網世紀，但其實互聯網一直存在，並不是透過科技、社交軟體產生，暢銷作家尼爾‧弗格森在本書中就是要講互聯網，他將說明它的興起、沒落、及再次興起。

有人說歷史會重複，互聯網是否也是歷史重複的一種形式？看了這本書也許你就會找到答案。

A brilliant recasting of the turning points in world history, including the one we're living through, as a collision between old power hierarchies and new social networks

Most history is hierarchical: it's about emperors, presidents, prime ministers and field marshals. It's about states, armies and corporations. It's about orders from on high. Even history "from below" is often about trade unions and workers' parties. But what if that's simply because hierarchical institutions create the archives that historians rely on? What if we are missing the informal, less well documented social networks that are the true sources of power and drivers of change?

The 21st century has been hailed as the Age of Networks. However, in The Square and the Tower, Niall Ferguson argues that networks have always been with us, from the structure of the brain to the food chain, from the family tree to freemasonry. Throughout history, hierarchies housed in high towers have claimed to rule, but often real power has resided in the networks in the town square below. For it is networks that tend to innovate. And it is through networks that revolutionary ideas can contagiously spread. Just because conspiracy theorists like to fantasize about such networks doesn't mean they are not real.

From the cults of ancient Rome to the dynasties of the Renaissance, from the founding fathers to Facebook, The Square and the Tower tells the story of the rise, fall and rise of networks, and shows how network theory--concepts such as clustering, degrees of separation, weak ties, contagions and phase transitions--can transform our understanding of both the past and the present.

Just as The Ascent of Money put Wall Street into historical perspective, so The Square and the Tower does the same for Silicon Valley. And it offers a bold prediction about which hierarchies will withstand this latest wave of network disruption--and which will be toppled.