The Know-It-Alls: The Rise of Silicon Valley as a Political Powerhouse and Social Wrecking Ball

Hailed as “a valuable addition” and a “Top Tech Book” by Wired.com, The Know-It-Alls offers a prescient chronicle of the rise of Silicon Valley as a political and intellectual force. Showcasing this new class of super geeks, former New York Times technology reporter Noam Cohen sketches “finely researched portraits” (Nature) of the smart guys, including Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Mark Zuckerberg, who fell in love with a radically individualistic, anti-government ideal—and then mainstreamed it.

Now, in this completely revised and updated edition, published one year after DOGE came to town, Cohen shows how the know-it-alls came to Washington, providing a richly documented account of how their influence has metastasized, their wealth has exploded, and their technologies have frayed America’s social and political fabric. The know-it-alls claim that they support Trump because the Democrats abandoned them; Cohen reveals that Trump gave them the political opening they’d been waiting for, all along.

From the decisive influence of the pandemic, to the emergence of Elon Musk as a national political force, and the appearance of new characters and technologies, Cohen’s “unabashed critique” (Library Journal) is the essential guide to the real power players on today’s political scene.