| Accidental Empires | |
| Author: | Mark Stephens (as Robert X. Cringely) |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Subject: | Computer industry |
| Publisher: | Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. |
| Release Date: | February 1992 |
| Media Type: | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
| Pages: | 324 |
| Isbn: | 978-0-201-57032-8 |
| Dewey: | 338.4/7004/0979473 20ca |
| Congress: | HD9696.C63 U51586 1991 |
| Oclc: | 24141993 |
Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date (1992, 1996), is a book written by Mark Stephens under the pen name Robert X. Cringely about the founding of the personal computer industry and the history of Silicon Valley.[1]
The style of Accidental Empires is informal, and in the first chapter Cringley claims that he is not a historian but an explainer, and that "historians have a harder job because they can be faulted for what is left out; explainers like me can get away with printing only the juicy parts."[2] Notably, the book was critical of Steve Jobs and Apple, as well as Bill Gates and Microsoft.[3] The book described how companies in the technology industry were built and critiqued the public-relation campaigns that explained such narratives.[4]
The book was revised and republished in 1996, with new material added. A documentary based on the book, called Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires was aired on PBS in 1996, with Cringely as the presenter.[5] [6] In November of 2011, a film based on the miniseries called Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview, was exhibited at the Landmark Theatres.[7] It included the missing footage of the interview that Jobs did with Cringely in 1995 for the PBS documentary.[8]
In February 2012, Cringely wrote on his blog that he will republish the book online, free for all to read.[9]