The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History since 1900Oxford University Press, 29.08.2011 - 288 Seiten From the books of H.G. Wells to the press releases of NASA, we are awash in clichéd claims about high technology's ability to change the course of history. Now, in The Shock of the Old, David Edgerton offers a startling new and fresh way of thinking about the history of technology, radically revising our ideas about the interaction of technology and society in the past and in the present. He challenges us to view the history of technology in terms of what everyday people have actually used-and continue to use-rather than just sophisticated inventions. Indeed, many highly touted technologies, from the V-2 rocket to the Concorde jet, have been costly failures, while many mundane discoveries, like corrugated iron, become hugely important around the world. Edgerton reassesses the significance of such acclaimed inventions as the Pill and information technology, and underscores the continued importance of unheralded technology, debunking many notions about the implications of the "information age." A provocative history, The Shock of the Old provides an entirely new way of looking historically at the relationship between invention and innovation. |
Inhalt
1 | |
2 Time | 28 |
3 Production | 52 |
4 Maintenance | 75 |
5 Nations | 103 |
6 War | 138 |
7 Killing | 160 |
8 Invention | 184 |
Conclusion | 206 |
Notes | 213 |
240 | |
Acknowledgements | 248 |
List of Illustrations | 250 |
251 | |
Andere Ausgaben - Alle anzeigen
The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History since 1900 David Edgerton Eingeschränkte Leseprobe - 2007 |
The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900 David Edgerton Eingeschränkte Leseprobe - 2011 |
The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900 David Edgerton Eingeschränkte Leseprobe - 2007 |
Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
aeroplane Africa agriculture aircraft American Argentina army atomic bomb Auschwitz autarkic aviation battleships became bicycle bomber Britain British built cent chemical China civilian claimed computers condom contraception cost DAVID EDGERTON decades early economic electric engines example factory firms forces Fordism Fray Bentos gas chambers German global growth history of technology horses huge hydrogenation Ibid IG Farben important increased industry innovation-centric interwar invention and innovation Japan Japanese killing killing technology late lethal injection London long boom maintenance and repair malaria manufacture mass production meat military million modern motor car mules museums nology nuclear ofthe Oxford particular plant poor world programme radio railway revolution rich countries rich world Second World Second World War sewing machine ships significant Soviet Union steam synthetic tech technical technol Technology and Culture things tion tons tractors twentieth century University Press USSR weapons whales