Technology in America: A History of Individuals and Ideas Book

The American Revolution and the Industrial Revolution began at the same time, and ever since the development of America and the development of technology have proceeded in tandem, each dependent on and contributing to the other. From the beginning until well into the twentieth century, technical innovation was largely the work of the rugged individualists who have since entered the pantheon of American folklore: their names, coupled with the enterprises they opened up in the chapter titles below, are still for the most part familiar to American readers. Contents: The Artisan during America's Wooden Age, Brooke Hindle; Thomas Jefferson and a Democratic Technology, Hugo A. Meier; Benjamin Henry Latrobe and the Transfer of Technology, Darwin H. Stapleton; Eli Whitney and the American System of Manufacturing, Merritt Roe Smith; Thomas P. Jones and the Evolution of Technical Education, Bruce Sinclair; Cyrus Hall McCormick and the Mechanization of Agriculture, Carroll W. Pursell, Jr.; James Buchanan Eads and the Engineer as Entrepreneur, John A. Kouwenhoven; James B. Francis and the Rise of Scientific Technology, Edwin T. Layton, Jr.; Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, Robert V. Bruce; Thomas Alva Edison and the Rise of Electricity, Thomas Parke Hughes; George Eastman and the Coming of Industrial Research, Reese V. Jenkins; Ellen Swallow Richards: Technology and Women, Ruth Schwartz Cowan; Gifford Pinchot and the Conservation Movement, Samuel P. Hays; Henry Ford and the Triumph of the Automobile, James J. Flink; Charles A. Lindbergh: His Flight and the American Ideal, John William Ward; Keaton and Chaplin: The Silent Film's Response to Technology, George Basalla; Morris L. Cooke and Energy for America, Jean Christie; Enrico Fermi and the Development of Nuclear Power, Lawrence Badash; Robert H. Goddard and the Origins of Space Flight, Barton C. Hacker. The book was originally published in 1979 in the Voice of America Forum Series for distribution outside the United States. This MIT Press edition contains a new preface by the editor.Read More