Accidental Empires

{{Short description|1992/1996 nonfiction book by Robert X. Cringely}}

{{Infobox book

| name = Accidental Empires

| image = Robert X. Cringely - Accidental Empires.jpeg

| caption = Revised edition (1996)

| author = Mark Stephens (as Robert X. Cringely)

| illustrator =

| cover_artist =

| country = United States

| language = English

| series =

| subject = Computer industry

| publisher = Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.

| release_date = February 1992

| media_type = Print (Hardcover, Paperback)

| pages = 324

| isbn = 978-0-201-57032-8

| dewey= 338.4/7004/0979473 20ca

| congress= HD9696.C63 U51586 1991

| oclc= 24141993

}}

Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date (1992, 1996), is a book written by Mark Stephens under the pen name Robert X. Cringely about the founding of the personal computer industry and the history of Silicon Valley.{{cite news|last1=Lewis|first1=Peter H.|title=Summer books for computer nerds|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/04/science/personal-computers-summer-books-for-computer-nerds.html|work=New York Times|date=7 August 1992}}

The style of Accidental Empires is informal, and in the first chapter Cringley claims that he is not a historian but an explainer, and that "historians have a harder job because they can be faulted for what is left out; explainers like me can get away with printing only the juicy parts."{{cite book | title = Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date | first = Robert X. | last = Cringely | year = 1992 |page = 11}} Notably, the book was critical of Steve Jobs and Apple, as well as Bill Gates and Microsoft.{{cite journal|last1=Wilmott|first1=Don|title=Cringely makes Silicon Valley shutter with scathing industry history|journal=PC Magazine|date=31 March 1992|volume=11|issue=6|page=7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a2YTCyIAwwIC&q=cringely&pg=PT72}} The book described how companies in the technology industry were built and critiqued the public-relation campaigns that explained such narratives.{{Cite web |last=Beckett |first=Jonathan |date=2020-12-04 |title=Great Books About Computers, History, and the Internet |url=https://medium.com/swlh/great-books-about-computers-history-and-the-internet-3a4978bc7d8b |access-date=2022-07-28 |website=The Startup |language=en}}

The book was revised and republished in 1996, with new material added. A documentary based on the book, called Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires was aired on PBS in 1996, with Cringely as the presenter.{{cite news|last1=Goodman|first1=Walter|title=Mapping cyberspace in Bay Area garages|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/12/arts/mapping-cyberspace-in-bay-area-garages.html|accessdate=18 August 2015|work=New York Times|date=12 June 1996}}{{cite journal|last1=Reed|first1=Sandy|title=Notes from the legal front: the real Robert X Cringley appears in Infoworld|journal=InfoWorld|date=24 June 1996|volume=18|issue=26|page=67|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cz0EAAAAMBAJ&q=cringely&pg=PA77-IA10}} In November of 2011, a film based on the miniseries called Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview, was exhibited at the Landmark Theatres.{{Cite web |last=Ng |first=Philiana |date=2011-11-05 |title=Unseen Footage From Lengthy Steve Jobs Interview Heading to Theaters |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/steve-jobs-lost-interview-theaters-257946/ |access-date=2022-07-28 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}} It included the missing footage of the interview that Jobs did with Cringely in 1995 for the PBS documentary.{{Cite web |last=Ong |first=Josh |date=May 4, 2012 |title='Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview' coming back to Landmark theaters May 11 |url=https://appleinsider.com/articles/12/05/04/steve_jobs_the_lost_interview_coming_back_to_landmark_theaters_may_11 |access-date=2022-07-28 |website=AppleInsider |language=en}}

In February 2012, Cringely wrote on his blog that he will republish the book online, free for all to read.{{cite web | url = http://www.cringely.com/2012/02/what-the-dickens-accidental-empires-rebooted/ | title = What the Dickens? Accidental Empires Rebooted | work = I, Cringely | date = 7 February 2012 | first = Robert X. | last = Cringely }}