Technology and American History explores the technological dimension of American life from the birth of American industry in the late eighteenth century to the massive industrial systems of the late twentieth century.

Emphasizing a societal context for technology, this carefully organized collection demonstrates both the manner in which cultural, political, and economic forces shape innovation, and the ways that technology has influenced society and shaped its values. Individual essays explore the importance of textile manufacturing in American industrialization, the role of the federal government in regulating new modes of transport, the development of interchangeable parts in production, the process of innovation, the notion of technological systems, and the relationship between technological change and work in the factory, on the farm, and in the home.

The essays were selected to be accessible to both the general reader and the undergraduate student.

This broad-ranging anthology provides a condensed overview of technology in Western civilization. Its twenty-one carefully selected articles and overview essays demonstrate the complex relationship between technological and social change from antiquity to the present. Specific topics include the origins of contemporary social and political institutions in the irrigation civilizations of antiquity, technology and the military, popular perceptions of the early industrial revolution in Europe, the difference between invention and innovation, the role of government in the development of technology, the nature of technical expertise, and nuclear power and the environment.

General readers and students will find this collection accessible and engaging.