American Genesis: A Century of Invention and Technological Enthusiasm, 1870–1970, by Thomas P. Hughes.
A history of the creation of large technological systems of production and distribution, and the social response to those systems. It’s not only about the century of technological enthusiasm, but also about how that enthusiasm went wrong (in my opinion), and how it came to an end.
American Genesis: A Century of Invention and Technological Enthusiasm, 1870–1970, by Thomas P. Hughes.
A history of the creation of large technological systems of production and distribution, and the social response to those systems. It’s not only about the century of technological enthusiasm, but also about how that enthusiasm went wrong (in my opinion), and how it came to an end.
I reviewed it in two parts: 1) American invention from the “heroic age” to the system-building era, 2) From technocracy to the counterculture.