The Telephone Changed the World

Read Network Nation: Richard John

xnx 35 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This article is part of a press tour for a new book. Another interview here: https://www.npr.org/2026/11/14/nx-s1-6037416/hello-james-gle...

Telegraph seems like the more significant milestone, but putting that in the title of a book wouldn't sell many copies.

	▲	z3c0 25 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		The book seems to be angling more towards the impact of the Bell System and Bell Labs, which could certainly be argued as more impactful than the telegram, even if downstream. AT&T and Verizon both emerged from the Bell Breakup. Western Union still exists, but as a shadow of its Guilded Age self.

HN title-mangler strikes again:

“How the Telephone Changed the World”

(Though in this rare instance the the title still makes some sense.)