An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination [calibre 4.99.5]

Our agents, Adam Eaglin and Elyse Cheney, stood with us every step of the way. They believed there needed to be a book about Facebook and for the world to understand this powerful company and force in society. They read chapters and outlines, and went far beyond our expectations to make this—the first book for both of us—the best manuscript possible. We are also grateful to the entire crew at the Cheney Agency for promoting our work across the globe. Thank you to Isabel Mendia, Claire Gillespie, Alice Whitwham, Allison Devereux, and Danny Hertz.

Rebecca Corbett not only guided us in the New York Times newsroom, but was an important voice in the book process with her famously big ideas, news judgment, skepticism, and deft hand at structure, themes, and characters. After full days working on blockbuster newspaper investigations, Rebecca started all over again in the evenings and on weekends to talk to us about chapters and ideas. Gareth Cook came earlier in the process, helping us sift through volumes of material to see the bigger picture and plot out our plan. His passion for the topic and deft hand at structure and arguments brought our themes into sharper view.

Our fact checkers, Hilary McClellan and Kitty Bennett, who also did research for us, were invaluable. Dealing with many hundreds of pieces of information, they were meticulous and committed to the highest standards.

Beowulf Sheehan performed a bit of magic with our author photo. We were unable to meet in person but Beowulf took our photos remotely and then melded them together with flawless execution. We thank Beowulf for his incredible artistry, patience, and sense of adventure.

We were buffeted by the incredible reporting of our New York Times colleagues, too many to name in full. But in summary, Nicholas Confessore, Matthew Rosenberg, and Jack Nicas were our “OG” crew, working together on a story in November 2018 that struck the public conscience in a way we have rarely experienced. Mike Isaac, Kevin Roose, Scott Shane, and others were part of a formidable reporting crew dedicated to understanding the power of Facebook. We are indebted to the rest of the technology pod, a team of incredibly talented and hard-working reporters dedicated to holding Silicon Valley’s giants to account. We leaned heavily on their reporting and we are grateful for their collegiality. Our editors, Joe Plambeck and James Kerstetter, were champions of our reporting at the paper and on this project. New York Times leadership—Dean Baquet, Joe Kahn, Matt Purdy, Rebecca Blumenstein and Ellen Pollock—offered important support and made this book possible by allowing us to take leaves to report and write. A. G. Sulzberger’s kind notes on our coverage were always a welcome surprise in our inbox, and his enthusiasm for our tech coverage has been inspiring.

This book also builds on the reporting of many other journalists who have tirelessly worked to shed light on the company. To name a few: Ryan Mac, Craig Silverman, Sarah Frier, Deepa Seetharaman, Casey Newton, Julia Angwin, Kara Swisher, David Kirkpatrick, Steven Levy, Jeff Horowitz, Lizza Dwoskin, Julia Carrie Wong, Brandy Zadrozny, and Ben Collins.

Our readers—Kashmir Hill, Jessica Garrison, Kevin Roose, Natasha Singer, Scott Shane, and Brian Chen—were incredibly generous. They offered pages of feedback—from the most abstract and philosophical to specific challenges to reporting and our ideas. All of their feedback has been incorporated one way or another into the final version of the book.

From Cecilia: This book starts and ends with the support of my loving family. They endured far too many nights and weekends without me as I holed up to write. Oltac, my dear, is my champion. He rallied behind my ideas and helped shape my understanding of markets and business and political philosophy. My darling children, Leyla and Tigin, were my sharpest editors with their unvarnished feedback on narrative and style. They cheered me on and had so much faith in me. My parents, William and Margaret, are my true North. Dad has binders of every article I’ve written, starting with clips from Seoul when I was a cub reporter. Their journeys remind me that writing is a great privilege; they made my career possible. Sabrina, Felicia, Grace and Drew scrutinized chapters, got emotionally invested in the subject and fueled my ambitions. Felicia brought intellectual vigor to discussions on themes related to American history and the Classics. They reminded me that telling the story of Facebook was important. This book is for my family.

From Sheera: To my family, who always believed I could write a book: We did it! I would not be a journalist, or even a writer, if my first champion, Grandpa Louis, had not instilled in me a love of newspapers. I wrote this book at his old roll top desk. My grandmothers, Yona and Malka, would have cracked an egg on my head for luck. My parents, Mike and Irit, raised me to challenge, ask questions, and never back down. Talia, who brings creativity and passion to every discussion, was as excited about the book as I was. Elan, who always thinks outside the box, encouraged me to always consider different perspectives.