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

by Thomas P. Hughes

Technology as a Force in Modern American History

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Regular price $36.27 USD Sale price $36.27 USD

Paperback New English

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Awards & Recognition

  • Award recognition

    Pulitzer Prize finalist (1990)

    Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1990.

AlbakiReads Editorial

Technology as a Force in Modern American History

Covering the century from 1870 to 1970, Thomas P. Hughes places invention within the wider cultural currents that shaped the United States. The book connects scientific and technological developments with industrial organization and public ideas about progress, using figures including Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Frederick Taylor to trace those relationships. Instead of treating the light bulb or automobile as isolated breakthroughs, it considers how major technologies both emerged from and helped alter American culture. A preface extends the discussion to the information age while revisiting the author’s earlier forecasts about technology.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in U.S. technological and industrial history
  • Students of the relationship between invention, culture, and modernization
  • Those seeking a broad account of American technology from 1870 to 1970

Themes

Technological changeAmerican modernizationInvention and innovationIndustry and managementTechnology and culture

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

*PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST*

A sweeping history of the inventors, inventions, and innovations that together created modern America.

A stunning, wide-ranging history from one of the foremost historians of technology of our age American Genesis tells the sweeping story of the technological revolution that made modern America. 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, and bringing in fascinating characters like Edison, Ford, and Frederick Taylor, 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.

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