Bruce Sterling Non-Fiction books in order

Q: "How many books are in the Bruce Sterling Non-Fiction series?"

"There are three books in the Bruce Sterling Non-Fiction series, published between 1992 and 2014."

Q: "What is the first book in the Bruce Sterling Non-Fiction series?"

"The first book in the Bruce Sterling Non-Fiction series is The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier, published in 1992."

Q: "What is The Hacker Crackdown about?"

"The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier (1992) is Sterling's account of the early 1990s U.S. government crackdown on phone phreakers, hackers, and computer underground culture. It follows the investigations, raids, and prosecutions of that period — including Operation Sundevil — and the formation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation in response. Sterling reported the story as a journalist and gave away the book electronically when it was published, making it an early example of legal free distribution of a commercially published work."

Reading order

#	Title	Published	Author	Buy on Amazon
1	The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier	1992	Bruce Sterling	Buy
2	Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years	2002	Bruce Sterling	Buy
3	The Epic Struggle of the Internet of Things	2014	Bruce Sterling	Buy

Sterling’s non-fiction sits alongside his fiction as a consistent part of his practice. He has written as a journalist, a futurist, and a design critic across decades, and his three non-fiction books represent different facets of that engagement.

The Hacker Crackdown (1992) is the most widely read. It documents the period when U.S. law enforcement began treating computer intrusion as a serious federal crime, following the investigations and prosecutions that culminated in Operation Sundevil in 1990. Sterling had access to both sides of the conflict and wrote the book in a style that drew on his fiction skills. He released it electronically at publication, and it has remained freely available.

Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years (2002) is more explicitly futurist in character, applying the same analytical habits that shaped his fiction to projections about where technology and culture were heading. The Epic Struggle of the Internet of Things (2014) is a shorter, sharper piece — closer to a pamphlet than a book — examining the commercial and political battle over who controls the infrastructure of connected devices.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books are in the Bruce Sterling Non-Fiction series?

There are three books in the Bruce Sterling Non-Fiction series, published between 1992 and 2014.

What is the first book in the Bruce Sterling Non-Fiction series?

The first book in the Bruce Sterling Non-Fiction series is The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier, published in 1992.

What is The Hacker Crackdown about?

The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier (1992) is Sterling’s account of the early 1990s U.S. government crackdown on phone phreakers, hackers, and computer underground culture. It follows the investigations, raids, and prosecutions of that period — including Operation Sundevil — and the formation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation in response. Sterling reported the story as a journalist and gave away the book electronically when it was published, making it an early example of legal free distribution of a commercially published work.

Reading order#

Frequently Asked Questions

Reading order