Myths and legends of the anti-corporation : a history of Apple, Inc., 1976–1997 [article]

Andrew Emil Gansky
2017
Writing this dissertation was a daunting, arduous, and emotionally draining experience. I had an unusually difficult time settling on a topic, and often found myself deep in the weeds of researching and writing, only to discover that I had reached a dead end, or that I lacked the intellectual creativity to bring a subject to life. The extensive research I undertook as I cast about for a focus saw me making many solitary trips to the far corners of the U.S.A., where I would rummage around in
more » ... ival collections chronicling the history of computing, often without any very clear direction in mind. Archival research is by nature a rather lonely enterprise, taking place in quiet, heavily air conditioned rooms where one spends hours on end poring over documents, sifting for pieces that can be assembled into some kind of comprehensible tale, and only speaking to others when it is time to trade out one box of papers for another. I would often leave a reading room at the end of a long day to find that my fingernails had turned blue, and that my powers of communication were curiously muddled, making usually simple tasks such as ordering food at a restaurant a chancy enterprise. When I did eventually begin to focus on the story of Apple, Inc., I was deeply unsettled by the strangely personal connection I felt to life at that company, which in many respects resembled my experiences in contemporary American universities. As I uncovered more details about how employees coped with Apple's darker side, I found myself by turns exasperated with their seeming inability to recognize or resist their plight and haunted by the peculiar resonances with my own situation. Fortunately, my home at the University of Texas, the Department of American Studies, has itself been an altogether warm and supportive environment, something of a vi sunny island amidst the rough seas of academia, thanks in no small part to the efforts of our long-time chair, Steve Hoelscher, who has done more than I will probably ever fully know to make life for myself and the other graduate students in American Studies as productive, rewarding, and enjoyable as possible. In my seven years at the University of Texas, I have also had the great pleasure of working with many talented and friendly faculty across the campus, especially the members of my committee, Randy Lewis, Craig Campbell, Steve Hoelscher, Jeff Meikle, and Sharon Strover. They are all models of intellectual curiosity, and they have given me tons of encouragement, advice, and assistance over the years. I must also thank Sally Clarke, without whose unusually intensive and stimulating business history seminar I doubt I could have ever written this dissertation. As the chair of my committee, Randy deserves special thanks for helping me at every stage of this project, giving me much valuable feedback on my ideas and writing, and always pushing me to sharpen my arguments and prose. It was likewise Randy's suggestion that I narrow my focus to Apple, a truly brilliant piece of advice. Moreover, Randy has been a good friend and mentor to me throughout my graduate studies, always available to help out with the various queries and conundrums I've faced. I'm incredibly glad to have gotten to know him over the last seven years. Many other people helped me, directly and indirectly, as I embarked on this project, and I will do my best to thank them all here. I benefitted from extensive and farranging conversations with my graduate student colleagues as an intern at the Harry Ransom Center, especially
doi:10.15781/t2ww77f1z fatcat:ryg7h2uc3bf7nar46dcmtin4tq