In 1996, Kara Swisher, then a reporter at The Washington Post, was granted unprecedented access to one of the hottest and most closely watched companies in the world, America Online, Inc. In aol.com, Swisher has written a book that captures the secrets of how AOL beat the competition and became the world's biggest online company. Swisher also reveals the company's behind-the-scenes dealings with Microsoft cofounders Bill Gates and Paul Allen, CompuServe, Prodigy, Netscape, and the Christian Right. Throughout its existence, AOL has repeatedly been written off by the media and the high-tech world. Bill Gates threatened to buy it or bury it. Deep-pocketed competitors such as CompuServe and Prodigy thought little of their smaller rival. And AOL made matters worse by committing a series of public-relations and technical blunders that became front page news and enraged its subscribers. But the company--a "cyber-cockroach"--refused to die. Now, with over eleven million subscribers, AOL is the undisputed leader in the online world, vitally positioned at the nexus of big business, high tech, advertising, and new media. In telling the story of AOL, Swisher also conveys the fascinating history of the online business, which has its origins in the dreams of an eccentric and little-known entrepreneur named Bill Von Meister, whose grand ideas and big spending spawned the fledgling company that would become AOL. But it fell to a young marketing executive named Steve Case to build AOL while fending off an onslaught of wealthier competitors and suitors. Ultimately, as Swisher vividly illustrates, AOL gained supremacy because Case possessed the best vision for his company, establishing AOL as avibrant virtual community rather than an online shopping center or business tool. Included in that community is an array of enthusiasts, activists, and deviants who at times clash in battles over freedom of expression and family values, a flash point best illustrated here by AOL's fight against the Communications Decency Act. Re-creating all of the major moments in AOL's frenzied history, aol.com is a fascinating and important inside story about the birth of a new medium, the enterprising innovators who are leading it, and the way it is changing our culture.

"Learn the basic features, services, and functions of America Online 4.0, including how to use, navigate, and explore the Internet from America Online. Bob Temple teaches each lesson in a humorous and easy-to-understand manner that makes learning fast and fun. Each chapter discusses tools needed to explore America Online's feature-rich service. After 24 hours you will be sending email, tooling around the Internet and World Wide Web, chatting with cyberfriends, or even creating your own Web page."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

America Online For Dummies is recognized as the best-selling beginning reference on the market on AOL. This edition, updated for the latest AOL features, contains all the great info on using AOL that is the hallmark of the book, including guidance for getting on the service, navigating AOL channels, using AOL e-mail, browsing the Web via AOL, communicating with other Internet and AOL users, applying AOL to your job or hobby, and customizing the service to make it work best for you. This updated edition covers the latest enhancements to AOL including changes to the AOL e-mail, Web browsing, connectivity, and calendaring features.

The Fourth Circuit's 1997 ruling in Zeran v. America Online played a critical role in Section 230 jurisprudence and, by extension, the Internet's development. To better understand this seminal case, we compiled a variety of resources about the case, including (1) two dozen essays reflecting upon the decision's 20th anniversary, and (2) key opinions and filings from the litigation, some of which have never before been available in electronic format. This compilation should interest anyone researching the history of Internet Law or thinking about the implications of online speech policies and the ongoing policy debates about Section 230.

In this accessible, engaging, and up-to-date course book, Susan L. Brown employs ethnographic vignettes and demographic data to introduce students to twenty-first century perspectives on contemporary families. Appropriate as a primary or secondary text in classes on family and marriage, this book probes momentous shifts in the definition of family, such as the legalization of same-sex marriage and policy debates on welfare reform and work-family issues. Brown also explores the rise in nonmarital childbearing and single-mother families and the decline of “traditional” marriage by delving into the historical roots of family change, current trends of family formation and dissolution, and the implications of family change for the well-being of adults and children. With a lens toward socioeconomic inequality and racial-ethnic variation in family patterns, Families in America illustrates how family diversity is now the norm. The Sociology in the Twenty-First Century series introduces students to a range of sociological issues of broad interest in the United States today, with each volume addressing topics such as family, race, immigration, gender, education, and social inequality. These books—intended for classroom use—will highlight findings from current, rigorous research and demographic data while including stories about people’s experiences to illustrate major themes in an accessible manner. Learn more about the Sociology in the Twenty-First Century Series.