A Social History of American Technology

by Cowan, Ruth Schwartz

• ISBN13: 9780195046069
• ISBN10: 0195046064
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-01-30
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

For over 250 years American technology has been regarded as a unique hallmark of American culture and an important factor in American prosperity. Despite this, American history has rarely been told from the perspective of the history of technology. A Social History of American Technology fills this gap by surveying the history of American technology from the tools used by the earliest native inhabitants to the technological systems - cars and computers, aircraft and antibiotics - we are familiar with today. Cowan makes use of the most recent scholarship to explain how the unique characteristics of American cultures and American geography have affected the technologies that have been invented, manufactured, and used throughout the years. She also focuses on the key individuals and ideas that have shaped important technological developments. The text explains how various technologies have affected the ways in which Americans work, govern, cook, transport, communicate, maintain their health, and reproduce.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xiii
I IN THE BEGINNING	1	(66)
A Social History of American Technology	2	(3)
The Land, the Natives, and the Settlers	5	(23)
The Land and the Native Inhabitants	6	(4)
The European Settlers	10	(6)
The Colonial Economy	16	(6)
Colonial Economic Policy and Technological Change	22	(3)
Conclusion: Quickening the Pace for Technological Change	25	(2)
Notes	27	(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading	27	(1)
Husbandry and Huswifery in the Colonies	28	(17)
Types of Farms in the Colonial Period	29	(2)
The Technological System of Colonial Agriculture	31	(8)
Conclusion: The Myth of Self-Sufficiency	39	(4)
Notes	43	(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading	44	(1)
Colonial Artisans	45	(22)
The Apprenticeship System and Labor Scarcity	46	(4)
Printshops and Printers	50	(4)
Mills, Millwrights, and Millers	54	(3)
Iron Foundries and Iron Workers	57	(6)
Conclusion: Reasons for the Slow Pace of Technological Change	63	(2)
Notes	65	(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading	65	(2)
II INDUSTRIALIZATION	67	(154)
The Early Decades of Industrialization	69	(24)
Oliver Evans, Steam Engines, and Machine Shops	73	(3)
Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin	76	(2)
The Armament Industry and the American System of Manufacture	78	(4)
Samuel Slater and the Factory System	82	(7)
Conclusion: The Unique Character of American Industrialization	89	(2)
Notes	91	(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading	91	(2)
Transportation Revolutions	93	(26)
Transportation Difficulties	94	(3)
Toll Roads and Entrepreneurs	97	(2)
Canal Building and State Financing	99	(6)
Steamboats: Steam Power and State Power	105	(7)
Railroads: Completing a National Transportation System	112	(5)
Notes	117	(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading	118	(1)
Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Engineers	119	(30)
The Patent System: The Public History of Invention	120	(4)
Inventors: Changes between 1820 and 1920	124	(6)
Entrepreneurs: Innovation and Diffusion	130	(8)
Engineers: Changes between 1820 and 1920	138	(9)
Notes	147	(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading	147	(2)
Industrial Society and Technological Systems	149	(24)
Industrialization, Dependency, and Technological Systems	150	(1)
The Telegraph System	151	(2)
The Railroad System	153	(3)
The Petroleum System	156	(3)
The Telephone System	159	(3)
The Electric System	162	(3)
The Character of Industrialized Society	165	(6)
Conclusion: Industrialization and Technological Systems	171	(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading	171	(2)
Daily Life and Mundane Work	173	(28)
Farmers and Unexpected Outcomes	173	(5)
Skilled and Deskilled Workers	178	(9)
Unskilled Workers	187	(6)
Housewives and House Servants	193	(5)
Conclusion: Was Industrialization Good or Bad for Workers?	198	(1)
Notes	199	(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading	199	(2)
American Ideas about Technology	201	(20)
Technology and Associated Ideas	203	(2)
Precursers to Industrialization	205	(3)
Technology and Romanticism	208	(1)
Acceptance of Romanticism by Advocates of Industrialization	209	(4)
Technology and Art	213	(4)
Conclusion: The Cultural Meanings of Technology	217	(1)
Notes	218	(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading	219	(2)
III TWENTIETH-CENTURY TECHNOLOGIES	221	(108)
Blessing or Curse?	222	(2)
Automobiles and Automobility	224	(25)
Who Invented the Automobile?	225	(3)
Henry Ford and the Mass-Produced Automobile	228	(2)
Alfred P. Sloan and the Mass-Marketed American Automobile	230	(3)
Automobility and the Road System before 1945	233	(3)
Automobility and the Road System after 1945	236	(3)
The Unexpected Consequences of Automobility	239	(8)
Conclusion: The Paradox of Automobility	247	(1)
Notes	247	(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading	248	(1)
Taxpayers, Generals, and Aviation	249	(24)
The Early Days of Aircraft and the Aircraft Industry	250	(6)
World War II: A Turning Point	256	(4)
The Military-Industrial-Academic Complex	260	(2)
Civilian Spin-offs and the Race into Space	262	(7)
Conclusion: Costs and Benefits of Military Sponsorship	269	(1)
Notes	270	(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading	271	(2)
Communications Technologies and Social Control	273	(28)
Wireless Telegraphy	273	(2)
Wireless Telephony	275	(4)
Government Regulation of Wireless Communication	279	(4)
Wireless Broadcasting: Radio	283	(6)
Television	289	(3)
Electronic Components: The Vacuum Tube and the Transistor	292	(2)
Computers	294	(4)
Conclusion: The Ultimate Failure of Efforts to Control Electronic Communication	298	(1)
Notes	299	(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading	300	(1)
Biotechnology	301	(28)
Science, Technology, and Technoscience	302	(1)
Hybrid Corn	303	(7)
Penicillin	310	(8)
The Birth Control Pill	318	(7)
Conclusion	325	(1)
Note	326	(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading	327	(2)
Index	329