Table of Contents

I. IN THE BEGINNING
A Social History of American Technology
1.: The Land, the Natives, and the Settlers
The Land and the Native Inhabitants
The European Settlers
The Colonial Economy
Colonial Economic Policy and Technological Change
Conclusion: Quickening the Pace for Technological Change
2.: Husbandry and Huswifery in the Colonies
Types of Farms in the Colonial Period
The Technological System of Colonial Agriculture
Conclusion: The Myth of Self-Sufficiency
3.: Colonial Artisans
The Apprenticeship System and Labor Scarcity
Printshops and Printers
Mills, Millwrights, and Millers
Iron Foundries and Iron Workers
Conclusion: Reasons for the Slow Pace of Technological Change
II INDUSTRIALIZATION
4.: Early Decades of Industrialization
Oliver Evans, Steam Engines, and Machine Shops
Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin
The Armament Industry and the American System of Manufacture
Samuel Slater and the Factory System
Conclusion: The Unique Character of American Industrialization
5.: Transportation Revolutions
Transportation Difficulties
Toll Roads and Entrepreneurs
Canal Building and State Financing
Steamboats: Steam Power and State Power
Railroads: Completing a National Transportation System
6.: Inventors, Entrepreneurs and Engineers
The Patent System: The Public History of Invention
Inventors: Changes between 1820 and 1920
7.: Industrial Society and Technological Systems
Industrialization, Dependency, and Technological Systems
The Telegraph System
The Railroad System
The Telephone System
The Electric System
The Character of Industrialized Society
Conclusion: Industrialization and Technological Systems
8.: Daily Life and Mundane Work
Farmers and Unexpected Outcomes
Skilled and Deskilled Workers
Unskilled Workers
Housewives and House Servants
Conclusion: Was Industrialization Good or Bad for Workers?
9.: American Ideas about Technology
Technology and Associated Ideas
Precursors to Industrialization
Technology and Romanticism
Acceptance of Romanticism by Advocates of Industrialization
Technology and Art
Conclusion: The Cultural Meanings of Technology
TWENTIETH-CENTURY TECHNOLOGIES
Blessing or Curse?
10.: Automobiles and Automobility
Who Invented the Automobile?
Henry Ford and the Mass-Produced Automobile
Alfred P. Sloan and the Mass-Marketed American Automobile
Automobility and the Road System before 1945
Automobility and the Road System after 1945
The Unexpected Consequences of Automobility
11.: Taxpayers, Generals and Aviation
The Early Days of Aircraft and the Aircraft Industry
World War II: A Turning Point
The Military-Industrial-Academic Complex
Civilian Spin-offs and the Race into Space
Conclusion: Costs and Benefits of Military Sponsorship
12.: Communications Technologies and Social Control
Wireless Telegraphy
Wireless Telephony
Government Regulation of Wireless Communication
Wireless Broadcasting: Radio
Television
Electronic Components: The Vacuum Tube and the Transistor
Computers
COnclusion: The Ultimate Failure of Efforts to Control Electronic Communication
13.: Biotechnology
Science, Technology, and Technoscience
Hybrid Corn
Pencillin
The Birth Control Pill
Conclusion
Index

Reviews

"A careful, effective overview of American technology. The narrative is fluent and certainly appropriate for upper-division undergraduates."--Dan O'Bryan, Sierra Nevada College
"A much-needed survey of industry and technology and their impact on American history."--Barbara M. Kelly, Hofstra University
"A very accessible, interesting, and informative survey that again and again provokes new ways of thinking about the American experience. I use this in a course on industrialization, but would also use it as a companion text in any American History survey. Engaging."--Dale H. Porter, Western Michigan University
"By far the best book of its kind in the field."--John S. Nader, State University of New York at Delhi