There's always a tendency to focus in on a few "pivotal creators" when the reality is much more diffuse. People like to know who the inventor of X was and the reality is that the enshrined inventor, at best, made a particular advance in commercialization or practicality--or simply got the good press.
Hackers is a good read but it arguably sacrifices historical completeness for narrative flow. You mention the focus on the AI lab but then it also makes the argument everything that happened on the east coast was eclipsed. But then, that's what good stories do. I watched The Imitation Game last night and it took enormous historical liberties--probably too many. Breaking the Code is better in that regard. On the other hand, I saw a historical play about the invention of ether last year that I felt was harmed by too literal attention to less important threads of the central story.
Hackers is a good read but it arguably sacrifices historical completeness for narrative flow. You mention the focus on the AI lab but then it also makes the argument everything that happened on the east coast was eclipsed. But then, that's what good stories do. I watched The Imitation Game last night and it took enormous historical liberties--probably too many. Breaking the Code is better in that regard. On the other hand, I saw a historical play about the invention of ether last year that I felt was harmed by too literal attention to less important threads of the central story.