The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West

INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • “A cri de coeur that takes aim at the tech industry for abandoning its history of helping America and its allies.”—The Wall Street Journal From the Palantir co-founder, one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025, and his deputy, a critically-acclaimed and sweeping indictment of the West’s culture of complacency, arguing that timid leadership, intellectual fragility, and an unambitious view of technology’s potential in Silicon Valley have made the U.S. vulnerable in an era of mounting global threats “Not since Allan Bloom’s astonishingly successful 1987 book The Closing of the American Mind . . . has there been a cultural critique as sweeping.”—George F. Will, The Washington Post “Provocative . . . worthy of your time.”—Edith Chapin, former Editor-in-Chief of NPR Silicon Valley has lost its way. Our most brilliant engineering minds once collaborated with government to advance world-changing technologies. Their efforts secured the West’s dominant place in the geopolitical order. But that relationship has now eroded, with perilous repercussions. Today, the market rewards shallow engagement with the potential of technology. Engineers and founders build photo-sharing apps and marketing algorithms, unwittingly becoming vessels for the ambitions of others. This complacency has spread into academia, politics, and the boardroom. The result? An entire generation for whom the narrow-minded pursuit of the demands of a late capitalist economy has become their calling. In this groundbreaking treatise, Palantir co-founder and CEO Alexander C. Karp and Nicholas W. Zamiska offer a searing critique of our collective abandonment of ambition, arguing that in order for the U.S. and its allies to retain their global edge—and preserve the freedoms we take for granted—the software industry must renew its commitment to addressing our most urgent challenges, including the new arms race of artificial intelligence. The government, in turn, must embrace the most effective features of the engineering mindset that has propelled Silicon Valley’s success. Above all, our leaders must reject intellectual fragility and preserve space for ideological confrontation. A willingness to risk the disapproval of the crowd, Karp and Zamiska contend, has everything to do with technological and economic outperformance. At once iconoclastic and rigorous, this book also lifts the veil on Palantir and its broader political project from the inside, offering a passionate call for the West to wake up to our new reality.

About the Author :
Alexander C. Karp is the co-founder and CEO of Palantir Technologies. He earned his doctorate in social theory from Goethe University in Germany and is a graduate of Haverford College and Stanford Law School. Nicholas W. Zamiska is head of corporate affairs and legal counsel to the office of the chief executive officer at Palantir Technologies. He is a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School.

Review :
“No less ambitious than a new treatise in political theory.”—The Wall Street Journal “Not since Allan Bloom’s astonishingly successful 1987 book The Closing of the American Mind . . . has there been a cultural critique as sweeping.”—George Will, Pulitzer-Prize Winning Columnist, The Washington Post “Equal parts company lore, jeremiad, and homily . . . The primary target of The Technological Republic is not a nation that has failed Silicon Valley. It is more cogent and original as a story about how Silicon Valley has failed the nation.”—The New Yorker “The AI manifesto inspiring Keir Starmer’s government.”—The Times of London “Provocative . . . worthy of your time.”—Edith Chapin, former Editor-in-Chief of NPR “A surprisingly readable polemic that skewers Silicon Valley for insufficient patriotism.”—Wired “Fascinating, if at times disturbing.”—Financial Times “As clear and bracing as reveille . . . Whether or not Americans can agree on how and why to defend the country, Karp and Zamiska make a stirring call for the tech industry to follow Palantir’s path and get involved in the effort.”—The Washington Post “A call to arms for Silicon Valley engineers. . . . But while Karp critiques technologists, he also thinks it’s techies who will ultimately save the country—if they start trying.”—Bloomberg “Far too important to ignore.”—The Times Literary Supplement “A scathing indictment of today’s complacent Silicon Valley . . . A big-idea book that’s getting a lot of buzz.”—Toronto Star "A surprising book. It is nuanced and provocative. Even the most ardent pacifist should consider the arguments in it." —The Irish Times “An intellectual tour from anthropology to art and music to history and philosophy.”—David Ignatius of The Washington Post “Fascinating and important. This book is a rallying cry.”—Walter Isaacson “In rendering such a deep and subtle meditation about the role of morality in the private sector and the world of power, The Technological Republic may be the most exhilarating political treatise of the decade.”—Quillette “Bold and ambitious,” and “essential reading in the age of AI.”—Eric Schmidt “Provocative and insightful.”—Jamie Dimon “Bracing . . . A call to revive the partnership between government and industry, much like the twentieth-century collaborations that produced the atomic bomb, the moon landing, and the internet.”—The New Criterion “The Technological Republic should be read by everyone who cares about how technology should contribute to the protection of American values and our security.”—Gen. James Mattis “A stirring manifesto for a new Manhattan Project for the AI Age.”—Niall Ferguson “Exposes the nihilism implicit in the seemingly well-meaning nostrums of progressive morality.”—R. R. Reno, Editor, First Things “Ambitious, dense, cultured . . . . This book is intelligent. It is even, in places, brilliant.”—Frédéric Gaven