Conway, Flo 1941–

views updated

Conway, Flo 1941–

PERSONAL: Born 1941. Education: University of New Mexico, B.A.; University of Oregon, M.A.

ADDRESSES: Home—New York, NY. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Basic Books, 387 Park Ave. S., 12th Fl., New York, NY 10016. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Journalist. Saturday Evening Post, former staff member; lecturer at more than forty colleges and universities. Appeared on radio and television programs, including Good Morning America, Today, Prime Time Live, 20/20, 48 Hours, NBC Nightly News, and Larry King.

AWARDS, HONORS: (With Jim Siegelman) Leo J. Ryan Award, for "extraordinary courage, tenacity and perseverance in the battle against tyranny over the mind of man"; awards from National Mental Health Association and International Communication Association.

WRITINGS:

WITH JIM SIEGELMAN

Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change, Lippincott (Philadelphia, PA), 1978, 2nd edition, Stillpoint Press (New York, NY), 1995.

Holy Terror: The Fundamentalist War on America's Freedoms in Religion, Politics and Our Private Lives, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1982, updated edtion, Dell Publications (New York, NY), 1984.

Dark Hero of the Information Age: In Search of Norbert Wiener, the Father of Cybernetics, Basic Books (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to periodicals.

Author's books have been published in Europe, Japan, and Latin America.

SIDELIGHTS: Flo Conway and fellow journalist Jim Siegelman have collaborated on several books focusing primarily on communication as the foundation of a global information economy and society. For example, in their first book, Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change, the authors discuss how communication has been used by cults, political groups, self-help programs, and commercial training companies to bring about sudden changes in individual awareness and personality. The book Holy Terror: The Fundamentalist War on America's Freedoms in Religion, Politics, and Our Private Lives is an early exploration of the use of communications as a propaganda tool by the American "religious right" and by fundamentalist religious groups world wide.

Dark Hero of the Information Age: In Search of Norbert Wiener, the Father of Cybernetics is a profile of one of the pioneers of modern communication. Although largely forgotten in the ensuing exponential development of information technology, Wiener was a child prodigy who enrolled in graduate school at the age of fourteen. His subsequent work created the field of cybernetics, which has impacted numerous disciplines, including computer design, biology, and sociology. Wiener had many interests but also suffered from manic depression, and Conway and Siegelman also reveal that Wiener eventually became aware of the apparent dangers inherent in a technology that would change the way people communicate and interact. Noting that "the authors humanize their subject," a Publishers Weekly contributor commented that they also "celebrate Wiener's genius." Bryce Christensen, writing in Booklist, called the book a "compelling biography."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 2005, Bryce Christensen, review of Dark Hero of the Information Age: In Search of Norbert Wiener, the Father of Cybernetics, p. 794.

Publishers Weekly, January 3, 2005, review of Dark Hero of the Information Age, p. 48.

SciTech Book News, review of Dark Hero of the Information Age, p. 15.