''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 Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...

. 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." Notably, the book was critical of Steve Jobs and

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

, as well as

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

and

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

. The book described how companies in the technology industry were built and critiqued the public-relation campaigns that explained such narratives. 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 The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

in 1996, with Cringely as the presenter. In November of 2011, a film based on the miniseries called ''Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview'', was exhibited at the

Landmark Theatres Landmark Theatres is a movie theatre chain in the United States. It was formerly dedicated to exhibiting and marketing independent and foreign films. Since its founding in 1974, Landmark has grown to 35 theaters with 178 screens in 24 marke ...

. It included the missing footage of the interview that Jobs did with Cringely in 1995 for the PBS documentary. In February 2012, Cringely wrote on his blog that he will republish the book online, free for all to read.

Release details

* 1991, United States, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc , Pub date February 1992 Hardback * 1993, United States, HarperCollins , Pub date February 1993, Paperback * 1996, United States, HarperCollins , Pub date October 23, 1996, Hardback * 1996, United States, Penguin Books Ltd , Pub date April 4, 1996, Paperback

References

External links

''Accidental Empires''
at

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

''Accidental Empires''
at the author's blog 1992 non-fiction books Addison-Wesley books Books about computer and internet companies History books about the United States {{Media-book-stub