Publishing Director Alex Christofi acquired UK & Commonwealth rights to Data Empire: A Human History of Records and Rule by Professor Roopika Risam, Associate Professor of Digital Humanities at Dartmouth, from Emma Bal at Madeleine Milburn, in a seven-way auction. North American rights were pre-empted for six figures by Sarah Haugen, Senior Editor at Harper.
For readers of Nexus and The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Data Empire shows how data gathering has been fundamental to the human species’ success, driving advancements throughout history as well as enabling the exercise of power. From ancient cave markings and knotted strings to colonial censuses and modern surveillance, data has always been used to shape civilizations, uphold empires, and control lives. The story of empire is the story of data – and knowing this history is the first step to breaking its grip on the future.
Professor Risam’s academic research explores how histories of race, empire, and technology shape the modern world. She is the author of New Digital Worlds, taught in over 150 universities worldwide, and past president of the Association for Computers and the Humanities.
Alex Christofi said: ‘It’s breathtakingly ambitious to read data back into the whole span of human history, from the first clay tokens to the era of surveillance drones – but it becomes impossible to unsee. Professor Risam has written a paradigm-shifting book that is going to change how we understand the struggle to keep control of our own data in the present.’
Roopika Risam said: ‘My generation’s passage from childhood to adulthood mirrored the world’s transition from analogue records to digital data — from paper files and cassette tapes to personal computers, the internet, and the algorithms that now govern our lives. Experiencing that change compelled me to study digital culture and colonialism, to ask how technologies of data shape hierarchies and power. Data Empire traces how far back that story goes — and how history might yet change its course. I’m fortunate to be working with Sarah Haugen at Harper and Alex Christofi at Torva, who understand the urgency and scale of this project and have shaped it with shared editorial vision, and with Emma Bal at the Madeleine Milburn Agency, who challenged me to think more daringly about what this book could be.’
Torva and Harper will publish Data Empire in hardback and trade paperback on 9 July 2026.
