The Politics of Ape and Machine
Power as Organization
By Joseph Costello
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About the Book
Power shapes everything around us — from the way governments are built to the way families, workplaces, and communities function. Yet most of us rarely stop to ask: What is power? How does it really work? And why do some people and institutions hold onto it while others lose it?
In this collection of essays, Joseph Costello draws on history, politics, business, and culture to reveal the hidden and outright forces that govern our lives. Moving between vivid stories and clear frameworks, the book shows how power is created, contested, transformed, and technology’s essential role — understanding all this can help us make better choices, build stronger organizations, and navigate a rapidly changing world. Both a guide and a call to awareness, this book helps readers see the world differently: not just as it is, but as it might be reshaped. Drawing on history, literature, and philosophy, these essays trace how civilizations wrestled with the tension between nature and invention, community and individual, democracy and authoritarian control.
From Aeschylus and the Furies to McLuhan and cybernetics, the narrative connects ancient struggles for justice to modern debates over information, artificial intelligence, and the meaning of democracy itself. We encounter Delphi and Apollo, Orestes and Nietzsche, Jefferson and the Populists — voices that have tried to reconcile the promises of progress with the dangers of power. Alongside them stand scientists and thinkers like Einstein, Heisenberg, Huxley, and Illich, whose work reveals both the creative and destructive potentials of knowledge.
At the heart of the book is a recognition that political life is not only shaped by human intention but also by machines we build. Industrial revolutions, feedback systems, quantum theory, and the vast circulation of information have transformed the conditions of democracy, while myths of Prometheus, Kurtz, and Oprah remind us that stories and symbols are as powerful as factories or algorithms. This is a book about the past as much as it is about the present — about how we got here, and what it will take to sustain both our humanity and our democracy in an age of machines.
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Advance Praise
“Costello’s anatomy of the politics of technology is wonderful, strange, and urgent. He writes without jargon, probing hard but exciting questions about the relationship between technology and democracy, and demanding that we think, each for ourselves, and collectively. We are awash in trite essays on saving democracy; his work offers more provocative and demanding visions of democracy, making surprising connections between Greek thought, Marshall McLuhan, Oppenheimer, ecology, and the populists. It offers a series of beautiful gifts for your mind and sense of possibility.” Zephyr Teachout, Professor at Law at Fordham Law School, Author, Corruption in America and Break ‘Em Up: Recovering Our Freedom from Big Ag, Big Tech, and Big Money
“Voting in fair and honest elections is a prerequisite for democratic self-rule. What may be even more important is a related civic duty: participation — engaging with fellow citizens and organizing in our communities. Joe Costello brings history and experience to bear on how we can help revive genuine government of, by, and for the people. It starts with participation, and builds outward from there.” Dan Gillmor, technology journalist, author, and Co-founder ASU News Co/Lab
“For decades, Joe Costello has been in the trenches of American democracy. His keen observations and clear warnings about the risks of empire are matched by his deep commitment to renewing democracy at its core. His work is well worth your attention.” Leila Conners, Founder of independent media company Tree Media | Tree+
“Everything Joe writes is worth reading and thinking about. He’s maybe the last small “d” democratic thinker on this planet.” Yasha Levine, journalist, author of Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet and the video documentary Pistachio Wars
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About the Author
Joe Costello has spent more than four decades at the crossroads of politics, communications, economics, and energy—fields where power is contested and reshaped every day. He began his career on campaigns from city council races to the presidential level, including serving as Communications Director for Jerry Brown’s 1992 presidential run, where he helped redefine political messaging and fundraising. He later advised Governor Howard Dean’s groundbreaking 2004 campaign, bringing digital tools into American politics at scale.
Beyond electoral politics, Costello has organized coalitions of energy companies and environmental groups to advance renewable energy in California, worked with Mitchell Kapor and others on the politics of the internet, and led outreach for Leonardo DiCaprio’s award-winning documentary The 11th Hour. He has represented Mikhail Gorbachev’s environmental NGO at the 2002 United Nations Summit on Sustainability in Johannesburg, South Africa. He also worked on three presidential campaigns in Africa, two in Nigeria and one in Tanzania. Drawing on this lifetime of experience, Costello wrote The Politics of Ape and Machine to explore how political and economic systems succeed, fail, and can ultimately be reformed through both individual will and collective action.
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More Information
ISBN (Paperback): 979-8-9985796-3-9
ISBN (E-book): 979-8-9985796-2-2
Publication date: 10/06/2025
Pages: 228 pages
Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0 in
- POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / General
- PHILOSOPHY / Political
- BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Leadership
E-book: Kindle – Apple – Barnes & Noble – Everand
Paperback: Amazon – Barnes & Noble – Bookshop
Book Summary – Advance Praise – About the Author – More Information