The Last Best Place on the Internet

Richard Cooke

• 13 oktober 2026
• 9780393881882

Samenvatting:

A playful and provocative exploration of mighty Wikipedia: how it was built, why it thrived, and what we lose as its ideals disintegrate.

“Wikipedia is sui generis, one of the strangest and most outlandish successes of its time, quite unlike what came before it or anything set to succeed it. Since its birth twenty-five years ago, it has become part of the fabric of everyday life, quietly indivisible from the experience of seeking information.?.?.?. For most of its lifespan, it has enjoyed a unique supremacy—not only an encyclopedia, but the encyclopedia, a reference work to end all others.?.?.?. “Wikipedia is also an event, a phenomenon in time. It is an act of collective cultural creation—the largest act of this kind in history.?.?.?. It is also the last encyclopedia humans will ever write.?.?.?. The circumstances that created it have foreclosed. It is an escapee from a parallel universe, a refugee of the internet as it should have been, instead of the internet as it is.?.?.?. Digital empires, once fallen, leave few ruins. Wikipedia might not be glittering or extraterrestrial, but this is my attempt at preservation. A means to say: we saw it made, and it was good.” —from The Last Best Place on the Internet

One of the keystone inventions of the twenty-first century, Wikipedia is the largest repository of human knowledge ever made, with editions in 343 languages, read by millions of people every day. Yet, its rightful status as a “digital wonder of the world” is coupled with an odd complacency. We all use Wikipedia (often without realizing it) but seldom think about what it is and where it came from. In this entertaining book, Richard Cooke offers a fresh and definitive account of this era-defining phenomenon. The Last Best Place on the Internet reveals the personality clashes, philosophical disputes, private obsessions, pioneering innovations, and unexpected ideas behind Wikipedia’s fabled creation, extraordinary growth, and unparalleled success. Cooke examines the profound effect of an “encyclopedia anyone can edit” on politics, business, literature, and society at large. He explores the site’s shifting role in establishing fact amid deep uncertainty about truth and authority, the often hilariously fierce debates between “Inclusionists” and “Deletionists” about what matters, and the great perils Wikipedia faces today from bots, political division, and artificial intelligence. Meticulously researched and eye-opening, The Last Best Place on the Internet is a fascinating journey into the hidden world of one of the most vital—and most endangered—cultural achievements of our time.