Data Empire: How Information Has Shaped Human Life for 11,000 Years

The Empire of Information

In her sweeping new book, Data Empire, Roopika Risam traces the history of data from prehistoric cave paintings to today's biometric databases, arguing that information has always been used to organize, control, and dominate societies. With vivid stories of individuals caught in data regimes—from an ancient Egyptian land dispute to Frances Perkins assigning Social Security numbers—Risam shows how tools like censuses, deeds, and even library classifications carry hidden biases. She also highlights moments of resistance, such as William Still's records of escaped slaves, but concludes that data consistently empowers the powerful.