MARCONI’S INVENTION HELPED MAKE THE WORLD INTO WHAT IT IS TODAY

and personal intrigue surrounding Marconi.

This book has 126 pages of notes. What’s particularly impressive is that much of those are from archival sources and primary sources originating in numerous countries. Marconi spent much of his life travelling the globe and the compilation of sources from so many of the countries helps offer a more comprehensive picture.

Raboy does a fair job of balancing Marconi’s support for fascism with his undeniable technical achievements. Early in his reign Mussolini sent Marconi to the World’s Fair in a (largely successful) attempt to get visiting dignitaries to conflate Marconi’s intelligence and sophistication with the moral virtue of Italy’s new fascist government.

Marconi’s role as a willing servant of power is worth examining today when so many of tech titans are also willing, if not eager, to participate in obvious violations of civil liberties on the orders of Donald Trump.

After Trump won the election eight major technology companies were asked if they would help him build a registry of Muslims, as he had said he wanted to in the campaign. Only Twitter explicitly said no. Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Apple, IBM, CGI, SRA International and Booz Allen Hamilton declined to take a position on the issue.

Meanwhile several of those companies participated in George Bush and then Barack Obama’s creation of a massive global spying network revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden. Facebook eventually said they wouldn’t held build a Muslim registry, but only after a public pressure campaign from 22 advocacy groups.

Many of today’s tech moguls are cast in the mold of Marconi – fabulously wealthy more for the ability to sell than to invent. Their money comes from their monopoly power (there was once a conference convened just to discuss how Marconi’s patents created an unfair disadvantage for everyone else).

Like Marconi, his descendents try to project an image of unique genius and moral virtue. In reality, they are modern robber barons – having accumulated monopolistic power over their respective industries and enjoying a political class unwilling to break them up.

Over the years people have been continually surprised as new details of Marconi’s close collaboration with Mussolini have emerged. If you want to understand why so many tech titans love Trump, Marconi’s relationship with Mussolini is a good place to start.