61 pages • 2-hour read
This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Social Context: The Vulnerabilities and Conflicts of a Digitalized Society
Since the digital revolution of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, global society has become increasingly dependent on the connectivity of the internet and upon technologies such as computers and smartphones. This dynamic is especially prevalent in economically developed nations such as the USA and China, where vital public infrastructure and economic systems are managed and maintained via computerized systems. When digital technology is central to almost all aspects of life, cybersecurity becomes an increasingly significant concern. Data breaches, major hacks, and news of cyberattacks regularly make major news headlines, and this trend reflects the prominence of such issues in the public consciousness.
Vulnerabilities in computer software render the most important public and private systems vulnerable to infiltration or attack by hackers serving a wide range of hostile actors that include terrorist groups, enterprising criminals, and rival nation states. Cyberattacks that could disrupt or take down vital systems frequently threaten the quality of life of billions of people, and because devices such as smartphones can access the most intimate details of a person’s private life, the growing threat of cyberespionage enables governments and other powerful groups to encroach upon civil liberties and privacy to an extent that is unprecedented in all of human history.
Even as communication technologies continue to drive globalization, today’s level of connectivity fuels international conflicts and provides opportunities for novel modes of warfare and international dispute, including tactics such as online trolling and misinformation campaigns, election interference, and cyberattacks that cause devastating real-world damage. Given this global issue, Perlroth’s purpose in writing This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is to provide historical context for current trends, and she also presents an unvarnished account of the real-world impact of the global cyberweapons market.
Literary Context: Investigative Journalism and Tech-Focused Nonfiction
This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is a ground-breaking piece of investigative journalism by one of the leading cybersecurity journalists in the United States. As a whole, investigative journalism is a well-established style of reporting characterized by in-depth research into a particular topic. The process typically requires diligent fact-checking and a series of detailed interviews with numerous sources in order to provide the public with comprehensive revelations on an important but hitherto hidden or underexplored issue. The results are typically published in newspaper articles, released as documentaries, or compiled as nonfiction books. Famous examples include Bad Blood (2018) by John Carreyrou and The Washington Post’s 1972-1974 coverage of the Watergate scandal. Similarly, Perlroth’s This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is the product of seven years of diligent research and hundreds of interviews; upon its release, the text was critically acclaimed for the nuance and depth of its discussions on a notoriously complex topic. In her previous work for the New York Times, Perlroth earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination for her co-investigation of cyberespionage in Mexico.
This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends was also praised critically acclaimed for providing a clear and coherent explanation of complex technological issues and processes and seeking to educate a lay audience. Perlroth combines personal narratives with social context and technical information to produce an accessible work of informative nonfiction that is targeted to a varied readership of non-specialists. Following in the footsteps of other popular nonfiction works such as Mustafa Suleyman’s The Coming Wave (2023) and Neil Postman’s Technopoly (1992), Perlroth’s work caters to the modern fascination with digital technology and aptly addresses the public’s rising preoccupation with cybersecurity.
Unlock all 61 pages of this Study Guide
Get in-depth, chapter-by-chapter summaries and analysis from our literary experts.
- Grasp challenging concepts with clear, comprehensive explanations
- Revisit key plot points and ideas without rereading the book
- Share impressive insights in classes and book clubs