Lambda the Ultimate

Christopher Kelty's book, Two Bits: The Cultural Significance of Free Software, can be read online, and I think parts of it will interest many here.

It seems that programming languages, while mentioned, do not receive a lot of attention in this work. I would argue that they are a significant factor in the history that is being told, and an important resource for historians (though reading the history from the languages is not a trivial undertaking by any means).

Still, seems like a very good discussion and well worth pursuing.

Edited to add: As Z-Bo mentions in the comments, the website of the book invites people to re-mix it (or "modulate" it). Motivated readers can thus add the relevant PL perspective, if they so wish.