In the computer boys take over historian nathan ensmenger traces the rise to power of the computer expert in modern american society he follows the history of computer programming from its origins as low status largely feminized labor in the secret wartime computing projects through its reinvention as a glamorous black art practiced by computer cowboys in the 1950s through its . In the computer boys take over nathan ensmenger traces the rise to power of the computer expert in modern american society his rich and nuanced portrayal of the men and women a surprising number of the computer boys were in fact female who built their careers around the novel technology of electronic computing explores issues of power identity and expertise that have only become more . The computer boys take over computers programmers and the politics of technical expertise nathan l ensmenger abstract this is a book about the computer revolution of the mid twentieth century and the people who made it possible unlike most histories of computing it is not a book about machines inventors or entrepreneurs instead the book tells the story of the vast but largely . Skip to main content menu search browse resources authors librarians editors societies. The computer boys take over computers programmers and the politics of technical expertise