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Inventing Modern : Growing up with X-Rays, Skyscrapers, and Tailfins by John H. Lienhard (2003, Hardcover)
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherOxford University Press, Incorporated
ISBN-100195160320
ISBN-139780195160321
eBay Product ID (ePID)2346900
Product Key Features
Book TitleInventing Modern : Growing Up with X-Rays, Skyscrapers, and Tailfins
Number of Pages304 Pages
LanguageEnglish
TopicSocial Aspects, United States / 20th Century, General, History
Publication Year2003
IllustratorYes
GenreTechnology & Engineering, Science, History
AuthorJohn H. Lienhard
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Height1 in
Item Weight20.8 Oz
Item Length6.3 in
Item Width9.5 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
LCCN2002-156634
Reviews" 'A good read' is not the first phrase that comes to mind in discussingmost academic books, but in this case, it is well-deserved praiseA morefascinating, informative, or enjoyable introduction to science, technology, andmodern science would be hard to imagine."--Choice, "From Buck Rogers to the Chrysler Airflow, Lienhard considers a particularstrain of American Modernism through the personal lens of his own boyhood. Whilethis book reflects a fascination with how things work, it also is a memoir,replete with subjective, idiosyncratic and deeply nostalgic associations."--LosAngeles Times, "This is vintage Lienhard: intellectually cosmopolitan and curious,wide-ranging and almost breathless, with an ability to knit together events andpeople into a mosaic that, like all good history, is greater than the sum of itsparts, and all in a voice that is so rhythmical that the reader is drawn alongalmost involuntarily."--Richard J. Blackett, Andrew Jackson Professor ofHistory, Vanderbilt University, "A delightful personal memoir, a provocative cultural history, and an instructive guide to science and technology--a splendid book that entertains, challenges and informs in equal measure."--Samuel C. Florman, author of The Existential Pleasures of Engineering, "From Buck Rogers to the Chrysler Airflow, Lienhard considers a particular strain of American Modernism through the personal lens of his own boyhood. While this book reflects a fascination with how things work, it also is a memoir, replete with subjective, idiosyncratic and deeply nostalgic associations."--Los Angeles Times "A delightful personal memoir, a provocative cultural history, and an instructive guide to science and technology--a splendid book that entertains, challenges and informs in equal measure."--Samuel C. Florman, author ofThe Existential Pleasures of Engineering "This is vintage Lienhard: intellectually cosmopolitan and curious, wide-ranging and almost breathless, with an ability to knit together events and people into a mosaic that, like all good history, is greater than the sum of its parts, and all in a voice that is so rhythmical that the reader is drawn along almost involuntarily."--Richard J. Blackett, Andrew Jackson Professor of History, Vanderbilt University "Lienhard is a story-teller who informs and enchants. His book carries us on a riveting journey with twentieth-century technologies that created the worldview called modernity. In learning about these roots of modern, we learn about ourselves."--Stanley Joel Reiser, Griff T. Ross Professor of Humanities and Technology in Health Care at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston " 'A good read' is not the first phrase that comes to mind in discussing most academic books, but in this case, it is well-deserved praiseA more fascinating, informative, or enjoyable introduction to science, technology, and modern science would be hard to imagine."--Choice, "From Buck Rogers to the Chrysler Airflow, Lienhard considers a particular strain of American Modernism through the personal lens of his own boyhood. While this book reflects a fascination with how things work, it also is a memoir, replete with subjective, idiosyncratic and deeply nostalgic associations."--Los Angeles Times "A delightful personal memoir, a provocative cultural history, and an instructive guide to science and technology--a splendid book that entertains, challenges and informs in equal measure."--Samuel C. Florman, author of The Existential Pleasures of Engineering "This is vintage Lienhard: intellectually cosmopolitan and curious, wide-ranging and almost breathless, with an ability to knit together events and people into a mosaic that, like all good history, is greater than the sum of its parts, and all in a voice that is so rhythmical that the reader is drawn along almost involuntarily."--Richard J. Blackett, Andrew Jackson Professor of History, Vanderbilt University "Lienhard is a story-teller who informs and enchants. His book carries us on a riveting journey with twentieth-century technologies that created the worldview called modernity. In learning about these roots of modern, we learn about ourselves."--Stanley Joel Reiser, Griff T. Ross Professor of Humanities and Technology in Health Care at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston " 'A good read' is not the first phrase that comes to mind in discussing most academic books, but in this case, it is well-deserved praiseA more fascinating, informative, or enjoyable introduction to science, technology, and modern science would be hard to imagine."--Choice, "This is vintage Lienhard: intellectually cosmopolitan and curious, wide-ranging and almost breathless, with an ability to knit together events and people into a mosaic that, like all good history, is greater than the sum of its parts, and all in a voice that is so rhythmical that the readeris drawn along almost involuntarily."--Richard J. Blackett, Andrew Jackson Professor of History, Vanderbilt University, "A delightful personal memoir, a provocative cultural history, and aninstructive guide to science and technology--a splendid book that entertains,challenges and informs in equal measure."--Samuel C. Florman, author of TheExistential Pleasures of Engineering, "Lienhard is a story-teller who informs and enchants. His book carries us on a riveting journey with twentieth-century technologies that created the worldview called modernity. In learning about these roots of modern, we learn about ourselves."--Stanley Joel Reiser, Griff T. Ross Professor ofHumanities and Technology in Health Care at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, "From Buck Rogers to the Chrysler Airflow, Lienhard considers a particular strain of American Modernism through the personal lens of his own boyhood. While this book reflects a fascination with how things work, it also is a memoir, replete with subjective, idiosyncratic and deeply nostalgic associations."-- Los Angeles Times "A delightful personal memoir, a provocative cultural history, and an instructive guide to science and technology--a splendid book that entertains, challenges and informs in equal measure."--Samuel C. Florman, author of The Existential Pleasures of Engineering "This is vintage Lienhard: intellectually cosmopolitan and curious, wide-ranging and almost breathless, with an ability to knit together events and people into a mosaic that, like all good history, is greater than the sum of its parts, and all in a voice that is so rhythmical that the reader is drawn along almost involuntarily."--Richard J. Blackett, Andrew Jackson Professor of History, Vanderbilt University "Lienhard is a story-teller who informs and enchants. His book carries us on a riveting journey with twentieth-century technologies that created the worldview called modernity. In learning about these roots of modern, we learn about ourselves."--Stanley Joel Reiser, Griff T. Ross Professor of Humanities and Technology in Health Care at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston " 'A good read' is not the first phrase that comes to mind in discussing most academic books, but in this case, it is well-deserved praiseA more fascinating, informative, or enjoyable introduction to science, technology, and modern science would be hard to imagine."-- Choice, "From Buck Rogers to the Chrysler Airflow, Lienhard considers a particular strain of American Modernism through the personal lens of his own boyhood. While this book reflects a fascination with how things work, it also is a memoir, replete with subjective, idiosyncratic and deeply nostalgic associations."--Los Angeles Times"A delightful personal memoir, a provocative cultural history, and an instructive guide to science and technology--a splendid book that entertains, challenges and informs in equal measure."--Samuel C. Florman, author of The Existential Pleasures of Engineering"This is vintage Lienhard: intellectually cosmopolitan and curious, wide-ranging and almost breathless, with an ability to knit together events and people into a mosaic that, like all good history, is greater than the sum of its parts, and all in a voice that is so rhythmical that the reader is drawn along almost involuntarily."--Richard J. Blackett, Andrew Jackson Professor of History, Vanderbilt University"Lienhard is a story-teller who informs and enchants. His book carries us on a riveting journey with twentieth-century technologies that created the worldview called modernity. In learning about these roots of modern, we learn about ourselves."--Stanley Joel Reiser, Griff T. Ross Professor of Humanities and Technology in Health Care at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston" 'A good read' is not the first phrase that comes to mind in discussing most academic books, but in this case, it is well-deserved praiseA more fascinating, informative, or enjoyable introduction to science, technology, and modern science would be hard to imagine."--Choice, "Lienhard is a story-teller who informs and enchants. His book carries uson a riveting journey with twentieth-century technologies that created theworldview called modernity. In learning about these roots of modern, we learnabout ourselves."--Stanley Joel Reiser, Griff T. Ross Professor of Humanitiesand Technology in Health Care at the University of Texas Health Science Centerat Houston, "From Buck Rogers to the Chrysler Airflow, Lienhard considers a particular strain of American Modernism through the personal lens of his own boyhood. While this book reflects a fascination with how things work, it also is a memoir, replete with subjective, idiosyncratic and deeply nostalgicassociations."--Los Angeles Times, " 'A good read' is not the first phrase that comes to mind in discussing most academic books, but in this case, it is well-deserved praiseA more fascinating, informative, or enjoyable introduction to science, technology, and modern science would be hard to imagine."--Choice
Dewey Edition21
Dewey Decimal303.48/3/097309045
SynopsisIn this book, Lienhard elucidates, from a de facto postmodern persepctive, what unique ideas and developments explain the profound watershed transition, around 1900 or 1906, to a new and different era, the "Modern" era, which persisted into the 1950's. He explores the cultural history of the first half of the 20th century, showing the impact of technological and scientific developments on the culture at large., Modern is a word much used, but hard to pin down. In Inventing Modern, John H. Lienhard uses that word to capture the furious rush of newness in the first half of 20th-century America. An unexpected world emerges from under the more familiar Modern. Beyond the airplanes, radios, art deco, skyscrapers, Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Buck Rogers, the culture of the open road--Burma Shave, Kerouac, and White Castles--lie driving forces that set this account of Modern apart. One force, says Lienhard, was a new concept of boyhood--the risk-taking, hands-on savage inventor. Driven by an admiration of recklessness, America developed its technological empire with stunning speed. Bringing the airplane to fruition in so short a time, for example, were people such as Katherine Stinson, Lincoln Beachey, Amelia Earhart, and Charles Lindbergh. The rediscovery of mystery powerfully drove Modern as well. X-Rays, quantum mechanics, and relativity theory had followed electricity and radium. Here we read how, with reality seemingly altered, hope seemed limitless. Lienhard blends these forces with his childhood in the brave new world. The result is perceptive, engaging, and filled with surprise. Whether he talks about Alexander Calder (an engineer whose sculptures were exercises in materials science) or that wacky paean to flight, Flying Down to Rio, unexpected detail emerges from every tile of this large mosaic. Inventing Modern is a personal book that displays, rather than defines, an age that ended before most of us were born. It is an engineer's homage to a time before the bomb and our terrible loss of confidence--a time that might yet rise again out of its own postmodern ashes., Modern is a word much used, but hard to pin down. In Inventing Modern , John H. Lienhard uses that word to capture the furious rush of newness in the first half of 20th-century America. An unexpected world emerges from under the more familiar Modern . Beyond the airplanes, radios, art deco, skyscrapers, Fritz Lang's Metropolis , Buck Rogers, the culture of the open road--Burma Shave, Kerouac, and White Castles--lie driving forces that set this account of Modern apart. One force, says Lienhard, was a new concept of boyhood--the risk-taking, hands-on savage inventor. Driven by an admiration of recklessness, America developed its technological empire with stunning speed. Bringing the airplane to fruition in so short a time, for example, were people such as Katherine Stinson, Lincoln Beachey, Amelia Earhart, and Charles Lindbergh. The rediscovery of mystery powerfully drove Modern as well. X-Rays, quantum mechanics, and relativity theory had followed electricity and radium. Here we read how, with reality seemingly altered, hope seemed limitless. Lienhard blends these forces with his childhood in the brave new world. The result is perceptive, engaging, and filled with surprise. Whether he talks about Alexander Calder (an engineer whose sculptures were exercises in materials science) or that wacky paean to flight, Flying Down to Rio , unexpected detail emerges from every tile of this large mosaic. Inventing Modern is a personal book that displays, rather than defines, an age that ended before most of us were born. It is an engineer's homage to a time before the bomb and our terrible loss of confidence--a time that might yet rise again out of its own postmodern ashes.
LC Classification NumberE169.1.L53945 2003
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