The Shock of the Old

This first ever history of technology casts aside the usual stories of inventions and focuses instead on what people actually use. It reassesses the relationship of technology and society, using unrecognized examples such as Spanish synthetic petrol, Japanese rickshaws, American gas chambers, Soviet tractors and Turkish battleships. We do not live in an era of ever increasing change, and the most important technologies of the twenty first century are often overlooked today. Drawing on political, economic and cultural history, "The Shock of the Old" dispels misplaced futurism and exemplifies a radical new way of looking at our world.

ISBN	1861973063	DEWEY edition	DC22
ISBN13	9781861973061 (What's this?)	Pages	272
Publisher	Profile Books Ltd	Published in	London
Imprint	Profile Books Ltd	Height (mm)	198
Format	Paperback	Width (mm)	129
Publication date	10 Jan 2008	Academic level	General
DEWEY	609.04

"'So the new is old, and the old is new! Marvellous stuff, and absolutely spot-on.' Simon Jenkins, Guardian 'A quiet pleasure and salutary corrective...Edgerton leaves us with an infinitely more nuanced, balanced and perceptive account of technology and social change than conventional accounts would allow.' Independent '...he eviscerates our obsession with novelty.' Sunday Times"

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Technology and Global History Since 1900

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