Digital Hustlers: Living Large and Falling Hard in Silicon Alley

The best non-fiction uses its subject matter to provoke thought of a variety of issues. I found "Digital Hustlers" to be exactly that: a brilliant expose of how the "Gotterdammerung" effect took its toll on all aspects of late-nineties startup culture. The book collects powerful stories from all sides of this deflated, polygonal zeitgeist and presents them with clarity in a modern format.Being in a German synth-rock band, I found the book's philisophical implications most interesting. History continues to repeat itself and we shall never forget. Not to end in too heavy-handed of fashion, but I would like to commend Kait and Weiss on their triumph. They have succeeded in capturing a brief but potent era in America's history and exploding it onto the written page. I found it very interesting.

In a format that may well be first-of-its-kind, authors Casey Kait and Stephen Weiss have captured the insiders' words about a brief but crucial part of New York dot.com history. One can feel the "characters" of Silicon Alley sitting around a table chatting and gossiping. In totally readable style, the two authors have collaborated on a project that impresses with its uniqueness while being jam-packed with information. I knew very little about the era until reading Digital Hustlers; I now understand it well. This is an extremely well-written and fascinating book about a most unusual time.

I received a pre-lease version of this book and looked forward to reading it because I have been interested in learning more about the stories of the people behind the internet phenomenom. Weiss and Kait tell the story of the people who lived through the rise and fall of the Net through interesting anecdotes that share the interviewees experiences. The writers clearly capture the story. Their respective backgrounds allow them to tell the story as insiders without the self-promotion which plagues most CEO-told stories. It's a great story.