American Technological Sublime

American Technological Sublime PDF Author: David E. Nye
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262640343
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
American Technological Sublime continues the exploration of the social construction of technology that David Nye began in his award-winning book Electrifying America. Here Nye examines the continuing appeal of the "technological sublime" (a term coined by Perry Miller) as a key to the nation's history, using as examples the natural sites, architectural forms, and technological achievements that ordinary people have valued intensely. Technology has long played a central role in the formation of Americans' sense of selfhood. From the first canal systems through the moon landing, Americans have, for better or worse, derived unity from the common feeling of awe inspired by large-scale applications of technological prowess. American Technological Sublime continues the exploration of the social construction of technology that David Nye began in his award-winning book Electrifying America. Here Nye examines the continuing appeal of the "technological sublime" (a term coined by Perry Miller) as a key to the nation's history, using as examples the natural sites, architectural forms, and technological achievements that ordinary people have valued intensely. American Technological Sublime is a study of the politics of perception in industrial society. Arranged chronologically, it suggests that the sublime itself has a history - that sublime experiences are emotional configurations that emerge from new social and technological conditions, and that each new configuration to some extent undermines and displaces the older versions. After giving a short history of the sublime as an aesthetic category, Nye describes the reemergence and democratization of the concept in the early nineteenth century as an expression of the American sense of specialness. What has filled the American public with wonder, awe, even terror? David Nye selects the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, the Erie Canal, the first transcontinental railroad, Eads Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, the major international expositions, the Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909, the Empire State Building, and Boulder Dam. He then looks at the atom bomb tests and the Apollo mission as examples of the increasing ambivalence of the technological sublime in the postwar world. The festivities surrounding the rededication of the Statue of Liberty in 1986 become a touchstone reflecting the transformation of the American experience of the sublime over two centuries. Nye concludes with a vision of the modern-day "consumer sublime" as manifested in the fantasy world of Las Vegas.

American Technological Sublime

American Technological Sublime PDF Author: David E. Nye
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262640343
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Get Book Here

Book Description
American Technological Sublime continues the exploration of the social construction of technology that David Nye began in his award-winning book Electrifying America. Here Nye examines the continuing appeal of the "technological sublime" (a term coined by Perry Miller) as a key to the nation's history, using as examples the natural sites, architectural forms, and technological achievements that ordinary people have valued intensely. Technology has long played a central role in the formation of Americans' sense of selfhood. From the first canal systems through the moon landing, Americans have, for better or worse, derived unity from the common feeling of awe inspired by large-scale applications of technological prowess. American Technological Sublime continues the exploration of the social construction of technology that David Nye began in his award-winning book Electrifying America. Here Nye examines the continuing appeal of the "technological sublime" (a term coined by Perry Miller) as a key to the nation's history, using as examples the natural sites, architectural forms, and technological achievements that ordinary people have valued intensely. American Technological Sublime is a study of the politics of perception in industrial society. Arranged chronologically, it suggests that the sublime itself has a history - that sublime experiences are emotional configurations that emerge from new social and technological conditions, and that each new configuration to some extent undermines and displaces the older versions. After giving a short history of the sublime as an aesthetic category, Nye describes the reemergence and democratization of the concept in the early nineteenth century as an expression of the American sense of specialness. What has filled the American public with wonder, awe, even terror? David Nye selects the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, the Erie Canal, the first transcontinental railroad, Eads Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, the major international expositions, the Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909, the Empire State Building, and Boulder Dam. He then looks at the atom bomb tests and the Apollo mission as examples of the increasing ambivalence of the technological sublime in the postwar world. The festivities surrounding the rededication of the Statue of Liberty in 1986 become a touchstone reflecting the transformation of the American experience of the sublime over two centuries. Nye concludes with a vision of the modern-day "consumer sublime" as manifested in the fantasy world of Las Vegas.

The Encyclopedia Americana

The Encyclopedia Americana PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Encyclopedias and dictionaries
Languages : en
Pages : 648

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Technical Bulletin

Technical Bulletin PDF Author: Richard E. Meyer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Catching Up with America

Catching Up with America PDF Author: Dominique Barjot
Publisher: Presses Paris Sorbonne
ISBN: 9782840502401
Category : Diffusion of innovations
Languages : en
Pages : 484

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Book Description
"This book is the outcome of the conference held in Caen (France) in September 1997, in preparation for the International Economic History Congress in Madrid (August 1998). This collection of essays provides, for the first time, a systematic overview of the productivity missions organised in the years following the Second World War, to investigate in situ the production and management techniques adduced to account for the American lead. Bringing together research workers from many countries (Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States), the volume addresses four successive themes. The first one concerns the part played by the United States and that country's action on the international scene. This, in turn, leads to the subsequent query: Did the productivity missions constitute tools for modernisation, or were they devices of domination? The second part considers three national experiences: the United Kingdom, France, and Japan. The third part examines a number of branches: iron and steel, electrical engineering, petrochemicals, and the tyre industry. The final part seeks to assess the impact of the missions. Ultimately, one needs must make a distinction between the rhetoric of productivity, on the one hand, and actual achievements, on the other; the missions were part of a wider process of Americanisation, wherein lies one of the keys to the economic miracles of the post-war era."--Page 4 of cover.

Literary Market Place

Literary Market Place PDF Author: John Keith Hanrahan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Authorship
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Directory of Postsecondary Institutions

Directory of Postsecondary Institutions PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education, Higher
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Technical World Magazine

Technical World Magazine PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Industrial arts
Languages : en
Pages : 684

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Americana (And The Act Of Getting Over It.)

Americana (And The Act Of Getting Over It.) PDF Author: Luke Healy
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1910620610
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Pacific Crest Trail runs 2660 miles, from California's border with Mexico to Washington's border with Canada. To walk it is to undertake a grueling test of body and spirit. In Americana, cartoonist Luke Healy accepts the challenge. This intimate, engaging autobiographical work from an Irish visitor to the United States recounts the author's own attempt to walk the length of the USA's west coast. Healy's life-changing journey weaves in and out of often humorous reflections on his experiences in America and his development as an artist, navigating both the trail itself and the unique culture of the people who attempt to complete it. For fans of Cheryl Strayed's Wild.

The History of Technology

The History of Technology PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Technology
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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Engineering & Contracting

Engineering & Contracting PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Buildings
Languages : en
Pages : 992

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