ABSTRACT

Providing a global perspective on the development of American technology, Technology and American Society offers a historical narrative detailing major technological transformations over the last three centuries. With coverage devoted to both dramatic breakthroughs and incremental innovations, authors Gary Cross and Rick Szostak analyze the cause-and-effect relationship of technological change and its role in the constant drive for improvement and modernization. This fully-updated 3rd edition extends coverage of industry, home, office, agriculture, transport, constructions, and services into the twenty-first century, concluding with a new chapter on recent electronic and technological advances. Technology and American Society remains the ideal introduction to the myriad interactions of technological advancement with social, economic, cultural, and military change throughout the course of American history.

chapter 3|15 pages

Origins of Industrialization

chapter 4|15 pages

The Birth of the Factory

chapter 5|23 pages

Iron, Steam, and Rails

chapter 6|13 pages

Machines and Their Mass Production

chapter 9|20 pages

The Second Industrial Revolution

chapter 10|17 pages

Technology and the Modern Corporation

chapter 11|20 pages

Technology and War, 1770–1918

chapter 12|16 pages

The Impact of Technology on Women’s Work

chapter 13|16 pages

The New Factory

chapter 15|19 pages

The Automobile and Its Culture

chapter 16|18 pages

Mechanizing Sight and Sound

chapter 17|20 pages

Electronic Media in the Home

chapter 18|22 pages

Airplanes and Atoms in Peace and War

chapter 19|16 pages

The Postwar Advance of Technology

chapter 20|21 pages

Our Digital Age

chapter 21|15 pages

Modern Americans in a Technological World