A richly illustrated behind-the-scenes tour of how the nation’s capital was built.In 1790, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson set out to build a new capital for the United States of America in just ten years. The area they selected on the banks of the Potomac River, a spot halfway between the northern and southern states, had few resources or inhabitants. Almost everything needed to build the federal city would have to be brought in, including materials, skille...

Emory Kemp is the founder and director of the Institute for the History of Technology and Industrial Archaeology at West Virginia University, where he also served as a chair and professor of civil engineering and a professor of history. This collection of essays encompasses over fifty years of his research in the field of the history of technology.Within these twelve essays, Kemp describes and analyzes nineteenth century improvements in building materials such as iron, steel, and c...

In 1945 Britain was the world's leading designer and builder of aircraft -- a world-class achievement that was not mere rhetoric. And what aircraft they were. The sleek Comet, the first jet airliner. The awesome delta-winged Vulcan, an intercontinental bomber that could be thrown about the sky like a fighter. The Hawker Hunter, the most beautiful fighter-jet ever built and the Lightning, which could zoom ten miles above the clouds in a couple of minutes and whose pilots rated flying it as ...

Our world has been transformed beyond recognition, particularly in the twentieth century, and so were our lives and our aspirations.Throughout James May's Magnificent Machines, our Top Gear guide explores the iconic themes of the past hundred years: flight, space travel, television, mechanised war, medicine, computers, electronic music, skyscrapers, electronic espionage and much more.But he also reveals the hidden story behind why some inv...

Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson led the design of such crucial aircraft as the P-38 and Constellation, but he will be more remembered for the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes. His extraordinary leadership of the Lockheed “Skunk Works” cemented his reputation as a legendary figure in American aerospace management.From the Trade Paperback edition.

"An in-depth account of the events and personal actions which led to a great tragedy in the history of America's space program." —James D. Smith, former Solid Rocket Booster Chief, NASA, Marshall Space Flight CenterWhen the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, millions of Americans became bound together in a single, historic moment. Many still vividly remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard about the tragedy. Diane...

Today technology has created a world of dazzling progress, growing disparities of wealth and poverty, and looming threats to the environment. Technology: A World History offers an illuminating backdrop to our present moment--a brilliant history of invention around the globe. Historian Daniel R. Headrick ranges from the Stone Age and the beginnings of agriculture to the Industrial Revolution and the electronic revolution of the recent past. In tracing the growing power of humans ov...

Secret wartime projects in code-breaking, radar and ballistics produced a wealth of ideas and technologies that kick-started the development of digital computers. This is the story of the people and projects that flourished in the post-war period. By 1955 computers had begun to appear in the market-place. The Information Age was dawning and Alan Turing and his contemporaries held centre stage. Their influence is still discernable deep down within today’s hardware and software.

An in-depth exploration of a momentous year in American history from the #1 New York Times –bestselling author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee .In 1876, America was eager to celebrate its centenary but questioned what might lie ahead. The American Republic had grown to four times its original population, and was in the midst of enormous changes. Industrialization was booming, a...

In the United States at the height of the Cold War, roughly between the end of World War II and the early 1980s, a new project of redefining rationality commanded the attention of sharp minds, powerful politicians, wealthy foundations, and top military brass. Its home was the human sciences—psychology, sociology, political science, and economics, among others—and its participants enlisted in an intellectual campaign to figure out what rationality should mean and how it could be deployed.

Did you ever wonder which civilisation first took to water in small craft? Who worked out how to measure distance or plot a course at sea? Or why the humble lemon rose to such prominence in the diets of sailors?Taking one hundred objects that have been pivotal in the development of sailing and sailing boats, the book provides a fascinating insight into the history of sailing. From the earliest small boats, through magnificent Viking warships, to the technology that powers some of t...

'Stanton writes with terrific verve and precision . . . his understanding of the seductive pleasures of gaming takes us right to its heart.'Maria Bustillos, Times Literary Supplement'The best overview book of the industry that I've read.'Andrew Liptak, io9From the first wood-panelled Pong machines in California to the masterpieces of engineering that now sit in countless homes all ove...