Technology in America: A Brief History

  • Alan I. Marcus &
  • Howard P. Segal
Harcourt College: 1999. 400 pp. $43, £14.95 (pbk)

It is a formidable undertaking to write a history of technology that takes full account of cultural, economic, social, political and scientific influences, especially if the history is to be concise as well as precise. This superbly composed history of technology is a result of many decades of scholarly effort. Although the book is loaded with information and explanation, the authors make the technological topics under discussion interesting to the general reader by frequently referring to well-known historical figures.

Their history begins with the colonial period in 1607, when most of the industry consisted of textile manufacture, leather-making, iron production and shipbuilding. In the early nineteenth century, the building of bridges, canals, steamboats and railways and the use of machinery in the textile industry became prominent. The latter part of the nineteenth century saw a mass-production steel industry, the telegraph, telephone, electricity, the organization of factories and engineering and the systematization of technical education.

In the twentieth century, the founding of industrial research laboratories, the development of plastics such as Bakelite and Nylon, the establishment of new delivery technologies such as lorries and public transport after Goodyear tyres were marketed in 1916, and the emergence of commercial aviation as a serious competitor in delivery and travel are delineated with precision.

Of the many entries of interest to computer enthusiasts and general readers, Alan Marcus and Howard Segal's discussion of the development of the programmable microchip, and of integrated-circuit technology and software will be of special note.

The authors have also not overlooked such very recent developments as biotechnology, genetic engineering, cloning, ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging and computer axial tomography. This history of American technology is a work of great merit which is written very skilfully in an intelligible form that is also easily accessible to the educated general reader.