From a 19th-century worker rebellion against automation to the unlikely origins of social media, join us for a far-reaching discussion into technology, people, and power with authors Brian Merchant and Taylor Lorenz in a celebration of their newly published books. Recorded live at Exposition Park - Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Regional Branch Library on October 30, 2023.

Brian Merchant is the technology columnist at the Los Angeles Times and the author of The One Device: the Secret History of the iPhone. We’ll be celebrating his new book, Blood in the Machine: the Origins of the Rebellion against Big Tech which intertwines an examination of our current technological age with the story of the Luddites.

Taylor Lorenz is an acclaimed Washington Post reporter. In Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet they present a groundbreaking social history of the internet—revealing how online influence and the creators who amass it have reshaped our world online and off.