A sweeping history of how writing has preserved cultural practices, traditions, and knowledge throughout human history. In How Writing Made Us Human, 3000 BCE to Now, Walter Stephens condenses the massive history of the written word into an accessible, engaging narrative. The history of writing is not merely a record of technical ......
A Biography of Global Health Science and Its Objects
"This book tracks the life history of insecticide-treated nets to explain how and why this technology became a cornerstone of global malaria control in the twenty first century"--
The 1970s Energy Crisis and the Making of Modern America
How the 1970s energy crisis facilitated a neoliberal shift in US political culture.
In Energizing Neoliberalism, Caleb Wellum offers a provocative account of how the 1970s energy crisis helped to recreate postwar America. Rather than think of the crisis as the obvious outcome of the decades "oil shocks," ......
This book examines public discourse on the production and dissemination of scientific and technological knowledge in Mao-era China. With three case studies on agricultural mechanization, steel production, and veterinary medicine, the authors argue that the party-state pursued a pragmatist model of modernization.
Explores the role of technology in the larger political and economic fabric of Southeast Asia. In Technology in Southeast Asian History, Suzanne Moon explores the profound entanglement of technology with Southeast Asian politics, social life, economics, and culture over its long history. Moon offers a unique framework for understanding the ......
Medicine, Minds, and Machines in Twentieth-Century America
A fascinating history of the first attempts to computerize medical diagnosis. Beginning in the 1950s, interdisciplinary teams of physicians, engineers, mathematicians, and philosophers began to explore the possible application of a new digital technology to one of the most central, and vexed, tasks of medicine: diagnosis. In Digitizing ......
Union Pacific Railroad Heritage covers the history of this amazing railroad that was founded in 1862 and completed the United States first transcontinental railroad in 1869. With the need to develop more powerful steam locomotives to handle the railroad's steep gradients, the Union Pacific Railroad designed the 4-12-2 locomotive, 4-6-6-4 ......
Essential Writings on Software Preservation and Game Histories
A leading voice in technology studies shares a collection of essential essays on the preservation of software and history of games. Since the early 2000s, Henry E. Lowood has led or had a key role in numerous initiatives devoted to the preservation and documentation of virtual worlds, digital games, and interactive simulations, establishing ......
How the Chicago International Livestock Exposition leveraged the eugenics movement to transform animals into machines and industrialize American agriculture. In 1900, the Chicago International Livestock Exposition became the epicenter of agricultural reform that focused on reinventing animals' bodies to fit a modern, industrial design. Chicago ......