What do you think?
Rate this book
Coding Capitalism: Computers and the Remaking of the Postwar US Economy
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 3, 2026
If you're looking for an early history of tech before Big Tech hailed itself as the before and after of civilization, look no further. With it being a history however, there is a certain density and volume of information for the reader to expect--I think that's a sign of a well assembled protohistory, but that's just me. All of that aside, the book is, in a word: fantastic. In another word, you could also say that it is rigorous, though with a publisher like Columbia University Press, you would certainly hope so. It will help, while reading, to have a basic understanding of the stock market, as well as some knowledge of computing. I had neither of those so the book was dense, but the fun part for me was the challenge of bringing myself up to speed with these topics.
It gets 4.5 stars from me because it's well written and despite the academic research, it was thankfully easy to read. It really does tell the history of how computers helped reshape the Postwar economy. Some notable aspects of that history include: businesses adopting computers for calculation and basic analysis, to the business schools who were the first to adopt the computer (because engineers didn't want it and mathematicians were too cool for it--hilarious!), and how that impacted its eventual use in the stock market. The people powering the history in Coding Capitalism enliven the narrative, though the food for thought I'm left with is for me at least, the book's defining feature and at the heart of why I would recommend reading it.
It was refreshing to read about the world before the internet (preceding even ARPANET, or at least developing in tandem), because Big Tech might have you believe that it started with them, or that there were no real computers in the '50's onwards when indeed there were. I actually went down a rabbit hole while reading this book to understand exactly how O.G. computers worked. I couldn't wrap my head around how, absent modern processors and memory, they would be able to do complicated calculations. If you're as big a rabbit-hole-diver-while-reading as I am, here's a fun video from the '60s, via the Computer History Archives Project about how the smartphone's predecessor created and made use of information via binary code and magnets. After reading, I had a much broader take on the way the world must have looked to those who were about my age (39 as of this review) when computers began to significantly change the way of doing business. It reminded me a lot of how the world looks with generative and agentic AI (though we now have Moore's law as a kind of Gatsby-esque green light flashing at the end of the dock). It's where the book took a turn from historical-informative, into more historical-philosophical terrain. Big Tech would have us believe that they are here to save us, but are they? Or are they just wealthy people with a lot of visions for an immaterial utopian future they haven't even been able to realize beyond the material architecture that the figures of computing's history laid several decades ago? I considered the anxieties that those who were managing the high volumes of paper in the 40s and 50s might have felt about their jobs being replaced (as many are now with AI), and how the internet was an inconceivable communication tool but that it's changed the world (I would argue at least) for the better. Many of the same questions loom large on AI's horizon and reading a prehistory like Kennedy's was helpful. It reminded me that AI is not humanity's first transformational tech rodeo. These reminders are the importance of history books like Coding Capitalism. While reading I also couldn't help but wonder how the likes of Wittgenstein's treatise on logic Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus influenced the logic of computing or was influenced by its contributing computing forebears. You also begin to understand the late 80s and 90s philosophers like Foucault, who might have seen panopticon potential more than a calculation powerhouse. I think too, about the cultural impacts of computing beyond the history of the book, where Orwell's 1984 was released in 1949 and no doubt became a Luddite defense through the eras Kennedy writes about here. Kennedy's book reminded me of why I love reading non-fiction: I wanted to know more. The book doesn't just give you the backstory of capitalism and economics shaped by computing--you walk away with a huge helping of reflexive potential.
Who would I recommend this book to? It would be an oversimplification to suggest "computer nerds" because what does that even mean anymore? Computer scientists whose lens focuses on technological pivots throughout history might find this entertaining or useful for research. Businesses and those who lead them looking to understand a transformative point in computing history might find useful material to guide a balanced response to some technologies. I might also suggest that those who just enjoy reading about history would find this a great read as well. I will caution though, that if you're looking for a history of capitalism with a dash of computer history it may be disappointing. Capitalism isn't the main feature, because it's the umbrella term that encompasses the mechanisms that computing changed, which Kennedy is reviewing. It's sort of the point, but those with a limited understanding of the meaning of capitalism in economic philosophy terms, seeking more of a popular business literature meets economics activism style of book may meet with some frustration. I know about capitalism from reading some Marx in grad school, and from reading Polanyi, as well as the requisite Hayek and Friedman (in small doses so as not to cause stomachaches), in addition to other academic texts. Those very high level historical lookouts, helped me spot the places in valley of capitalism's history below, as written in the text. I would imagine this book will be cited abundantly however, by the writers who will pen the history of our moment with AI.
The book has been out for a while, though I obtained my copy from NetGalley, and want to thank the publisher and author for it. It was an excellent read and I was glad I spent the time with such a thoroughly researched book.
It gets 4.5 stars from me because it's well written and despite the academic research, it was thankfully easy to read. It really does tell the history of how computers helped reshape the Postwar economy. Some notable aspects of that history include: businesses adopting computers for calculation and basic analysis, to the business schools who were the first to adopt the computer (because engineers didn't want it and mathematicians were too cool for it--hilarious!), and how that impacted its eventual use in the stock market. The people powering the history in Coding Capitalism enliven the narrative, though the food for thought I'm left with is for me at least, the book's defining feature and at the heart of why I would recommend reading it.
It was refreshing to read about the world before the internet (preceding even ARPANET, or at least developing in tandem), because Big Tech might have you believe that it started with them, or that there were no real computers in the '50's onwards when indeed there were. I actually went down a rabbit hole while reading this book to understand exactly how O.G. computers worked. I couldn't wrap my head around how, absent modern processors and memory, they would be able to do complicated calculations. If you're as big a rabbit-hole-diver-while-reading as I am, here's a fun video from the '60s, via the Computer History Archives Project about how the smartphone's predecessor created and made use of information via binary code and magnets. After reading, I had a much broader take on the way the world must have looked to those who were about my age (39 as of this review) when computers began to significantly change the way of doing business. It reminded me a lot of how the world looks with generative and agentic AI (though we now have Moore's law as a kind of Gatsby-esque green light flashing at the end of the dock). It's where the book took a turn from historical-informative, into more historical-philosophical terrain. Big Tech would have us believe that they are here to save us, but are they? Or are they just wealthy people with a lot of visions for an immaterial utopian future they haven't even been able to realize beyond the material architecture that the figures of computing's history laid several decades ago? I considered the anxieties that those who were managing the high volumes of paper in the 40s and 50s might have felt about their jobs being replaced (as many are now with AI), and how the internet was an inconceivable communication tool but that it's changed the world (I would argue at least) for the better. Many of the same questions loom large on AI's horizon and reading a prehistory like Kennedy's was helpful. It reminded me that AI is not humanity's first transformational tech rodeo. These reminders are the importance of history books like Coding Capitalism. While reading I also couldn't help but wonder how the likes of Wittgenstein's treatise on logic Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus influenced the logic of computing or was influenced by its contributing computing forebears. You also begin to understand the late 80s and 90s philosophers like Foucault, who might have seen panopticon potential more than a calculation powerhouse. I think too, about the cultural impacts of computing beyond the history of the book, where Orwell's 1984 was released in 1949 and no doubt became a Luddite defense through the eras Kennedy writes about here. Kennedy's book reminded me of why I love reading non-fiction: I wanted to know more. The book doesn't just give you the backstory of capitalism and economics shaped by computing--you walk away with a huge helping of reflexive potential.
Who would I recommend this book to? It would be an oversimplification to suggest "computer nerds" because what does that even mean anymore? Computer scientists whose lens focuses on technological pivots throughout history might find this entertaining or useful for research. Businesses and those who lead them looking to understand a transformative point in computing history might find useful material to guide a balanced response to some technologies. I might also suggest that those who just enjoy reading about history would find this a great read as well. I will caution though, that if you're looking for a history of capitalism with a dash of computer history it may be disappointing. Capitalism isn't the main feature, because it's the umbrella term that encompasses the mechanisms that computing changed, which Kennedy is reviewing. It's sort of the point, but those with a limited understanding of the meaning of capitalism in economic philosophy terms, seeking more of a popular business literature meets economics activism style of book may meet with some frustration. I know about capitalism from reading some Marx in grad school, and from reading Polanyi, as well as the requisite Hayek and Friedman (in small doses so as not to cause stomachaches), in addition to other academic texts. Those very high level historical lookouts, helped me spot the places in valley of capitalism's history below, as written in the text. I would imagine this book will be cited abundantly however, by the writers who will pen the history of our moment with AI.
The book has been out for a while, though I obtained my copy from NetGalley, and want to thank the publisher and author for it. It was an excellent read and I was glad I spent the time with such a thoroughly researched book.
November 26, 2025
My husband wrote this book 🥹
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
"Coding Capitalism" is such a wicked title. And there's a lot to love here. But this text is made for a niche audience. The focus is on how the rise of the computer intersected with economic endeavours within the US context during the mid-20th century. I'm not sure who might be interested beyond those with a particular interest in computing history or the stock market or perhaps technology in management.
There's a lot of material here. This is a dense text, filled within information and citations. This makes it a challenging read. The author is a skilled writer and has condensed a lot of information into a relatively small space. But this means the reader has to work hard to attend to the text. It's about as fast-paced as Wall Street and as stuffed with an ever-changing cast of goods in knowledge form.
I enjoyed how the author pulled out hilarious marketing claims and misplaced foretellings. People were calling out the need for human-centred computing back in the 60s, before there were home computers or even a usable interface on work machines, before the Internet and big data and social media and large language models chewing and spewing out people-(co)produced content, to all kinds of effects. "A vice president at the Bankers Trust" noted that the "'success of the whole technique is again obviously dependent on the human element.'" We still have yet to internalize that truism.
Altogether, this was a bit of a struggle to get through. Parts were fascinating; other parts felt like reading an encyclopedia. This is so well-researched and well-read, but will only be engaging for a very specific readership.
Thank you to NetGalley and Columbia University Press for the advance copy.
There's a lot of material here. This is a dense text, filled within information and citations. This makes it a challenging read. The author is a skilled writer and has condensed a lot of information into a relatively small space. But this means the reader has to work hard to attend to the text. It's about as fast-paced as Wall Street and as stuffed with an ever-changing cast of goods in knowledge form.
I enjoyed how the author pulled out hilarious marketing claims and misplaced foretellings. People were calling out the need for human-centred computing back in the 60s, before there were home computers or even a usable interface on work machines, before the Internet and big data and social media and large language models chewing and spewing out people-(co)produced content, to all kinds of effects. "A vice president at the Bankers Trust" noted that the "'success of the whole technique is again obviously dependent on the human element.'" We still have yet to internalize that truism.
Altogether, this was a bit of a struggle to get through. Parts were fascinating; other parts felt like reading an encyclopedia. This is so well-researched and well-read, but will only be engaging for a very specific readership.
Thank you to NetGalley and Columbia University Press for the advance copy.
July 13, 2026
Coding Capitalism: Computers and the Remaking of the Postwar US Economy is a compelling and meticulously researched study that examines the transformative role of computing in reshaping the economic landscape of the United States after World War II. Devin Kennedy offers a sophisticated analysis of how digital technologies became deeply intertwined with business, labor, government, and economic policy, fundamentally altering the organization of modern capitalism.
A defining strength of the book is its ability to connect technological innovation with broader social, political, and economic developments. Rather than presenting computers simply as tools of efficiency, the study explores how they influenced corporate strategy, workplace structures, financial systems, and institutional decision-making, providing readers with a deeper understanding of the forces that drove postwar economic transformation.
The work skillfully combines economic history, the history of technology, and political analysis to reveal the reciprocal relationship between technological progress and capitalist development. Its interdisciplinary approach offers valuable insight into the origins of today's digital economy while encouraging critical reflection on the long-term consequences of technological change.
Written with scholarly rigor and analytical precision, Coding Capitalism makes a significant contribution to economic history, the history of technology, business studies, and American history. It is an essential resource for researchers, educators, students, and readers interested in understanding how computing has fundamentally shaped the modern economy and continues to influence contemporary society.
A defining strength of the book is its ability to connect technological innovation with broader social, political, and economic developments. Rather than presenting computers simply as tools of efficiency, the study explores how they influenced corporate strategy, workplace structures, financial systems, and institutional decision-making, providing readers with a deeper understanding of the forces that drove postwar economic transformation.
The work skillfully combines economic history, the history of technology, and political analysis to reveal the reciprocal relationship between technological progress and capitalist development. Its interdisciplinary approach offers valuable insight into the origins of today's digital economy while encouraging critical reflection on the long-term consequences of technological change.
Written with scholarly rigor and analytical precision, Coding Capitalism makes a significant contribution to economic history, the history of technology, business studies, and American history. It is an essential resource for researchers, educators, students, and readers interested in understanding how computing has fundamentally shaped the modern economy and continues to influence contemporary society.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews