{"product_id":"wired-into-nature-james-schwoch-9780252083402","title":"Wired Into Nature: The Telegraph and the North American Frontier","description":"The completion of the Transcontinental Telegraph in 1861 completed telegraphy's mile-by-mile trek across the West. In addition to linking the coasts, the telegraph represented an extraordinary American effort in many fields of endeavor to know, act upon, and control a continent. \u003cp\u003eMerging new research with bold interpretation, James Schwoch details the unexplored dimensions of the frontier telegraph and its impact. The westward spread of telegraphy entailed encounters with environments that challenged Americans to acquire knowledge of natural history, climate, and a host of other fields. Telegraph codes and ciphers, meanwhile, became important political, military, and economic secrets. Schwoch shows how the government's use of commercial networks drove a relationship between the two sectors that served increasingly expansionist aims. He also reveals the telegraph's role in securing high ground and encouraging surveillance. Both became vital aspects of the American effort to contain, and conquer, the West's indigenous peoples--and part of a historical arc of concerns about privacy, data gathering, and surveillance that remains pertinent today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEntertaining and enlightening, \u003ci\u003eWired into Nature\u003c\/i\u003e explores an unknown history of the West.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e James Schwoch\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0252083407\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780252083402\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Illinois Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/15\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.95lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.60d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/01\/2018","brand":"James Schwoch","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48086450176255,"sku":"9780252083402","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_524b8658-cdcb-4c8a-8e52-a2ae6ffdf20c.jpg?v=1769094743","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/wired-into-nature-james-schwoch-9780252083402","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}