The Shock Of The Old

he eviscerates our obsession with novelty… * The Sunday Times *newfangled things are sexy, but how significant are they?…Edgerton provides a corrective by emphasising some of the overlooked technologies that affect the lives of many. * Newsweek *David Edgerton’s The Shock of the Old is a book I can use. I can take it in two hands and bash it over the heads of every techno-nerd, computer geek and neophiliac futurologist I meet. – Simon Jenkins * Guardian *…iconoclastic and thought-provoking book…he makes a strong case that accords with what Virgil identified around 25BC as a definitive human characteristic. Our lives consist of semper cedentia retro: always going forwards backwards. * The Times *It’s rare for a book to make you see the world differently, but this alternative history does exactly that on almost every page. * Guardian *

Born in Montevideo in 1959, David Edgerton is one of Britain’s leading historians, and has challenged conventional analyses of technology for 20 years. Currently a Professor at Kings College London, he writes for the broadsheet press and is a regular on television and radio.

He is the author of:

• The Rise and Fall of the British Nation (2018)
• Britain’s War Machine (2011)
• Warfare State (2005)

He lives in London.