The book that helped earn Thomas P. Hughes his reputation as one of the foremost historians of technology of our age and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1990, American Genesis tells the sweeping story of America's technological revolution. Unlike other histories of technology, which focus on particular inventions like the light bulb or the automobile, American Genesis makes these inventions characters in a broad chronicle, both shaped by and shaping a culture. By weaving scientific and technological advancement into other cultural trends, Hughes demonstrates here the myriad ways in which the two are inexorably linked, and in a new preface, he recounts his earlier missteps in predicting the future of technology and follows its move into the information age.

American Genesis: A Century of Invention and Technological Enthusiasm, 1870-1970

Business & Money

Hughes, Thomas P.

Education & Reference

University of Chicago Press

To most people, technology has been reduced to computers, consumer goods, and military weapons; we speak of "technological progress" in terms of RAM and CD-ROMs and the flatness of our television screens. In Human-Built World, thankfully, Thomas Hughes restores to technology the conceptual richness and depth it deserves by chronicling the ideas about technology expressed by influential Western thinkers who not only understood its multifaceted character but who also explored its creative potential. Hughes draws on an enormous range of literature, art, and architecture to explore what technology has brought to society and culture, and to explain how we might begin to develop an "ecotechnology" that works with, not against, ecological systems. From the "Creator" model of development of the sixteenth century to the "big science" of the 1940s and 1950s to the architecture of Frank Gehry, Hughes nimbly charts the myriad ways that technology has been woven into the social and cultural fabric of different eras and the promises and problems it has offered. Thomas Jefferson, for instance, optimistically hoped that technology could be combined with nature to create an Edenic environment; Lewis Mumford, two centuries later, warned of the increasing mechanization of American life. Such divergent views, Hughes shows, have existed side by side, demonstrating the fundamental idea that "in its variety, technology is full of contradictions, laden with human folly, saved by occasional benign deeds, and rich with unintended consequences." In Human-Built World, he offers the highly engaging history of these contradictions, follies, and consequences, a history that resurrects technology, rightfully, as more than gadgetry; it is in fact no less than an embodiment of human values.

Human-Built World: How to Think about Technology and Culture (science.culture)

History

Americas

To most people, technology has been reduced to computers, consumer goods, and military weapons; we speak of "technological progress" in terms of RAM and CD-ROMs and the flatness of our television screens. In Human-Built World, thankfully, Thomas Hughes restores to technology the conceptual richness and depth it deserves by chronicling the ideas about technology expressed by influential Western thinkers who not only understood its multifaceted character but who also explored its creative potential. Hughes draws on an enormous range of literature, art, and architecture to explore what technology has brought to society and culture, and to explain how we might begin to develop an "ecotechnology" that works with, not against, ecological systems. From the "Creator" model of development of the sixteenth century to the "big science" of the 1940s and 1950s to the architecture of Frank Gehry, Hughes nimbly charts the myriad ways that technology has been woven into the social and cultural fabric of different eras and the promises and problems it has offered. Thomas Jefferson, for instance, optimistically hoped that technology could be combined with nature to create an Edenic environment; Lewis Mumford, two centuries later, warned of the increasing mechanization of American life. Such divergent views, Hughes shows, have existed side by side, demonstrating the fundamental idea that "in its variety, technology is full of contradictions, laden with human folly, saved by occasional benign deeds, and rich with unintended consequences." In Human-Built World, he offers the highly engaging history of these contradictions, follies, and consequences, a history that resurrects technology, rightfully, as more than gadgetry; it is in fact no less than an embodiment of human values.

Religion & Spirituality

The 13 essays in this book draw on a wide array of case studies from cooking stoves to missile systems, from 15thÂcentury Portugal to today's AI labs - to outline an original research program based on a synthesis of ideas from the social studies of science and the history of technology.The impact of technology on society is clear and unmistakable. The influence of society on technology is more subtle. The 13 essays in this book draw on a wide array of case studies from cooking stoves to missile systems, from 15thÂcentury Portugal to today's AI labs - to outline an original research program based on a synthesis of ideas from the social studies of science and the history of technology. Together they affirm the need for a study of technology that gives equal weight to technical, social, economic, and political questions.

The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology

Politics & Social Sciences

Bijker, Wiebe E.

Social Sciences

Mit Pr

This riveting story of America's love affair with technology provides remarkable portraits of the lives and times of the early inventors--Edison, Bell, the Wright brothers, and charts the changing modes of invention from the age of independent innovation to today's corporate research labs and vast technological systems. This is the powerful and dramatic tale of our nation's incessant impulse to invent and discover, and of our complex relationship with the fruits of this impulse--a relationship that finds us liberated, dependent, enthusiastic, and skeptical all at once.

American Genesis: A Century of Invention & Technological Enthusiasm

Random House Value Publishing

In his farewell address, President Dwight Eisenhower warned against the dangers posed by the "military-industrial-university complex." His warning became a rallying cry of liberal dissent and, for some, this partnership became the most ominous aspect of what came to be known as the "establishment." Rescuing Prometheus presents a radically different view of the alliances behind the large-scale technological and scientific undertakings of the post-World War II era. In his analysis of the accomplishments of this coalition, Thomas Hughes shows how aerospace, computing, and communications were revolutionized. He explains how the design and development of four projects in particular led to a new understanding of technology: The SAGE air-defense project fostered the first interactive, digital computer designed for information processing; the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile project inspired a new form of management known as systems engineering; the Boston Central Artery/Tunnel Project addressed the complex relations between industry, science, and grassroots community interests; and ARPANET, the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency, would not only create the information superhighway but also develop the collegial, meritocratic management style now prevalent in the computer softwa re industry. Rescuing Prometheus is an eye-opening revisionist history of technology in our time.

Rescuing Prometheus

Pantheon

"A rare insight into industrial planning on a huge scale...Excellent." --The Economist Rescuing Prometheus is an eye-opening and marvelously informative look at some of the technological projects that helped shape the modern world. Thomas P. Hughes focuses on four postwar projects whose vastness and complexity inspired new technology, new organizations, and new management styles. The first use of computers to run systems was developed for the SAGE air defense project. The Atlas missile project was so complicated it required the development of systems engineering in order to complete it. The Boston Central Artery/Tunnel Project tested systems engineering in the complex crucible of a large scale civilian roadway. And finally, the origins of the Internet fostered the collegial management style that later would take over Silicon Valley and define the modern computer industry. With keen insight, Hughes tells these fascinating stories while providing a riveting history of modern technology and the management systems that made it possible.

Rescuing Prometheus: Four Monumental Projects That Changed the Modern World

Biography & History

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

American Ancestry vol. XII

Reference

Genealogy

BCR (Bibliographical Center for Research)

American Ancestry

American Ancestry vol. XII - Scholar's Choice Edition

Parenting & Relationships

Scholar's Choice

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