Yochai Benkler, Robert Faris, and Hal Roberts, Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2018, 472 pp., $27.95 (paperback)

Have new digital technologies fundamentally changed our society and democracy? When talking about fake news, Russian propaganda, or political polarization, social media are always the first to be blamed. Authors of Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics contest the common belief that current epistemic crisis of democracy and truth started with the heightened use of social media in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016. On the other hand, Yochai Benkler, Robert Faris, and Hal Roberts propose that the current crisis is more deeply rooted: the structure ofAmerican politics and media ecosystem that has persisted since the 1970s. The authors are not arguing that technology does not matter; rather, this timely book is important for understanding how technological adoption is rooted in the institutional and political–cultural fabric. This book is also highly useful to those who wish to understand the architecture of American political communication empirically, as it provides rich analysis and case studies of news stories and coverage, along with social media data.