How Wikipedia shaped the web

A “jaunty new history” of the creation, cultivation, and impact of Wikipedia. The Last Best Place on the Internet by Richard Cooke. A quarter-century on from its founding, few sites have been as central to the development of the web as Wikipedia, which today stands in contrast to much of the modern internet. “While social media platforms fuel engagement by egging on users’ baser instincts, Wikipedia still revolves around the quaint pleasures of human curiosity,” a New York Times critic writes. “Instead of enriching a tech billionaire, it is run as a nonprofit.” This book — “ a jaunty new history ” — tells the tale of its founding, its travails, and its success. Buy The Last Best Place on the Internet from your local bookstore.