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Reviews
| Leonardo to the Internet: Technology and Culture from the Renaissance to the Present. By Thomas J. Misa. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2004. xx+324 pp., illus., tables, notes, bibl. essay, index. $19.95 pb (ISBN 0-8018-7809-8).
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To produce this volume Thomas Misa faced the challenge of covering 550 years of technological history in about 300 pages and, while doing this, of demonstrating his thesis that technology and culture are intimately connected, continually affecting and feeding off each other. By embracing the limitations he faced (never does Misa claim to discuss ALL technologies or cultures) and maintaining a middle of the road approach to various topics (was the Industrial Revolution really a revolution?), he succeeds in presenting the reader with an organized, chronological essay organized around the thesis that one should not discuss technological change without also examining culture.
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The book contains excellent and detailed examples of its thesis divided into eight eras. Misa covers the years 1450 through 2001, but his eras occasionally overlap, attesting to the time cultural change requires. He examines the rise of industrialization and how technological developments in preindustrial eras did not have the same goals or outcomes as industrial era developments, when generating capital and profit through mass-produced and distributed goods became the focus. Although drawing most of his examples from western nations, Misa also gives illustrations from the east, such as Indian railroads and Japanese manufactured fax machines.
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A major shortcoming of Misa's book is his failure to define what "culture" is and his belated attempt to describe what he means by "technology" (p. 260). However, his broad approach to both culture and technology provide the flexibility needed to make his argument that technology and culture are completely intertwined. Cultural participants for Misa include princely courts funding technology during the Renaissance, Dutch oil painters using new hues in the 15th century, London brewers and tavern frequents during the rise of industry, and modernist architects and nuclear physicists of the 20th century.
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Misa devotes a chapter to each of his eras, giving each chapter a general timeframe and then dividing it into subheadings, which help guide the reader through his specific examples. In his first era—Renaissance courts (1450–1600)—Misa describes how court patronage dominated culture and politics, providing the finances for technological development. This chapter is an excellent example of high culture interacting with technology. Next, he describes the capitalistic techniques of commerce dominated by the Dutch in the era from 1588 to 1740. Technology, society, economy, and culture are intertwined throughout this era through the Dutch state's global experience. Chapter 3 focuses on the era of the Industrial Revolution in England from 1740 to 1851 by looking at London, Manchester, and Sheffield. Each area had different technologies with different cultures, answering the question why the "revolution" took such a long time and looked so different for different places.
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Misa next looks at the era of western expansion, which took place between 1840 and the beginning of World War I. He discusses the importance of natural resources, technology, and economics to Britain's empire, which stretched into India, China, and South Africa.
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Science and systems dominated the years 1870 through 1930 as technological innovation became inseparable from research universities, government bureaus, and corporations. For this era, Misa describes the cultures of the Westinghouses and Edisons, but he fails to take his argument to a general public level. In contrast, chapter 6, focusing on modernism and materials, does contain details regarding common social actors, their impact on modernism, and modernism's impact on them (1900–1950). Through an examination of art and architecture, Misa gives the reader insight into "deeper currents of social, technological and economic modernism" (pp. 159–60).
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Chapter 7 focuses on the influence of the military on technology during the 20th century (1936–1990). The author begins with physicists and World War II's nuclear bombs, moves on to Cold War digital computers, and finally discusses the modern military-industrial complex. Misa's next era—globalization—overlaps with several others already discussed. Economy and culture play an intimate role in the globalization era (1870–2001). This final era reflects Misa's balanced perspective on the impact of a global economy full of McDonalds, fax machines, and the internet. This chapter includes comments on the potential impact of September 11, 2001, and on technological development, suggesting that the era of globalization may not continue much into the future. Two of the examples he used to challenge cultural homogeneity seemed a bit simplistic. He asserts that alcohol consumption can be measured by national wine statistics (what about German beer?) and that coffee consumption correlates to caffeine consumption (disregarding caffeinated teas in Britain or Japan). Yet his description of globalization as an "emergent creation," as much as a modern-day "social fact," characterizes our modern experience exquisitely.
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Misa summarizes his arguments in an excellent concluding chapter that really pulls the entire book together and convinced this reader to write a positive review. He weaves together specific examples from every era into the key themes that permeated his book: science and economies, variety and culture, displacement and change, disjunctions and divisions. The last sentence of the book powerfully challenges readers to embrace technology and use it to benefit the decades to come (p. 276).
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Misa relied primarily on secondary sources (thoroughly footnoted) in the volume. His annotated bibliography is a major benefit, especially to student readers. The volume's illustrations and subheadings clearly communicate points to the reader. Leonardo to the Internet is thus perfect for academic use, especially given its paperback price tag.
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| Although Misa's argument—that technology and society are intimately linked—should not be surprising to anyone familiar with this journal, it may be surprising outside of industrial archaeology and the history of technology. This is a short, well-researched, well-written study that makes understandable to a wide audience the close ties that have existed between industry and culture from the Renaissance to the present. |
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