The Edge of the Future: Popular Science Writing at the Rise of the Twentieth Century
Magazines of the late nineteenth century brought fiction, political commentary, history, and articles on astounding inventions and discoveries into the homes and minds of an increasingly literate population in the United States. This collection brings together science stories and illustrations that stirred the imaginations and curiosity of Victorian readers of the new McClure’s Magazine.

On those pages, Alexander Graham Bell predicted that thoughts might be transferred from person to person. He imagined hearing aids for the deaf and the principles of television signals. Readers were introduced to automobiles—most of them electric in the America of the late 1890s—and flying machines, the x-ray, the wireless telegraph, and the possibility of life on other planets. They learned about earthquakes and volcanoes and the hunt for the temperature absolute zero. They were taken into volatile nitroglycerin hills to find how dynamite was made under the ever-watchful eye of a man concentrating on a thermometer.

McClure’s introduced readers to professional science writers, who wrote clear, compelling articles, on themes ranging from the seemingly mundane (food, water, and wine inspection in Paris) to trendy (the effort to build a powered flying machine) to the unexpected (scientific kite flying).

For those intrigued by the history of Victorian science, the origins of steampunk technology, and the intellectual ferment at the rise of the twentieth century, this collection provides original stories and images from a time of wonder and discovery.

With the original illustrations
1118260191
The Edge of the Future: Popular Science Writing at the Rise of the Twentieth Century
Magazines of the late nineteenth century brought fiction, political commentary, history, and articles on astounding inventions and discoveries into the homes and minds of an increasingly literate population in the United States. This collection brings together science stories and illustrations that stirred the imaginations and curiosity of Victorian readers of the new McClure’s Magazine.

On those pages, Alexander Graham Bell predicted that thoughts might be transferred from person to person. He imagined hearing aids for the deaf and the principles of television signals. Readers were introduced to automobiles—most of them electric in the America of the late 1890s—and flying machines, the x-ray, the wireless telegraph, and the possibility of life on other planets. They learned about earthquakes and volcanoes and the hunt for the temperature absolute zero. They were taken into volatile nitroglycerin hills to find how dynamite was made under the ever-watchful eye of a man concentrating on a thermometer.

McClure’s introduced readers to professional science writers, who wrote clear, compelling articles, on themes ranging from the seemingly mundane (food, water, and wine inspection in Paris) to trendy (the effort to build a powered flying machine) to the unexpected (scientific kite flying).

For those intrigued by the history of Victorian science, the origins of steampunk technology, and the intellectual ferment at the rise of the twentieth century, this collection provides original stories and images from a time of wonder and discovery.

With the original illustrations
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The Edge of the Future: Popular Science Writing at the Rise of the Twentieth Century

The Edge of the Future: Popular Science Writing at the Rise of the Twentieth Century

The Edge of the Future: Popular Science Writing at the Rise of the Twentieth Century

The Edge of the Future: Popular Science Writing at the Rise of the Twentieth Century

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Overview

Magazines of the late nineteenth century brought fiction, political commentary, history, and articles on astounding inventions and discoveries into the homes and minds of an increasingly literate population in the United States. This collection brings together science stories and illustrations that stirred the imaginations and curiosity of Victorian readers of the new McClure’s Magazine.

On those pages, Alexander Graham Bell predicted that thoughts might be transferred from person to person. He imagined hearing aids for the deaf and the principles of television signals. Readers were introduced to automobiles—most of them electric in the America of the late 1890s—and flying machines, the x-ray, the wireless telegraph, and the possibility of life on other planets. They learned about earthquakes and volcanoes and the hunt for the temperature absolute zero. They were taken into volatile nitroglycerin hills to find how dynamite was made under the ever-watchful eye of a man concentrating on a thermometer.

McClure’s introduced readers to professional science writers, who wrote clear, compelling articles, on themes ranging from the seemingly mundane (food, water, and wine inspection in Paris) to trendy (the effort to build a powered flying machine) to the unexpected (scientific kite flying).

For those intrigued by the history of Victorian science, the origins of steampunk technology, and the intellectual ferment at the rise of the twentieth century, this collection provides original stories and images from a time of wonder and discovery.

With the original illustrations

Product Details

BN ID: 2940148244288
Publisher: Iron Owl Books
Publication date: 01/20/2014
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 271
File size: 5 MB

About the Author

Henry J. W. Dam, also writing as Henry Dam and H.J.W. Dam, was a journalist and playwright born April 27, 1856. He died April 26, 1906. In addition to his work with McClure’s, Dam worked for the London bureau of The New York Times and then the London edition of the New York Herald. After it was discontinued, he moved into drama and wrote several plays. He was married to actress Dorothy Dorr.

Samuel Pierpont Langley, writing as S.P. Langley, was an aviation pioneer, inventor, astronomer, and the third Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. After college, he eventually became director of the Allegheny Observatory, where he improved the equipment and began distributing standard time to the railroads. Langley then directed his intellectual effort to powered flight. Working with Charles Manly, Langley led the development of a powerful engine for the heavier-than-air craft, but the Wright brothers flew first and Langley abandoned the project. Langley died February 27, 1906.

Cleveland Moffett was a journalist, playwright, and translator. Born April 26, 1863, he graduated from Yale College. Moffett worked for several New York newspapers. Meanwhile he wrote for McClure’s Magazine along with other publications. In addition to his science articles, Moffett’s true crime adventures of the Pinkerton Detective Agency ran in McClure’s. Moffett died October 14, 1926 in Paris.

Ida Minerva Tarbell edited and wrote for McClure’s Magazine starting in 1893. She was born November 5, 1857 to Franklin Tarbell, a small oil producer and refiner in Pennsylvania. His business failed due to collusion between the railroads and larger oil interests like the Standard Oil Company. This partly inspired Ida Tarbell to write a scathing exposé of Standard Oil’s practices which ran originally in McClure’s Magazine. A successful author and suffragist for much of her life, she died in 1944 and was inducted into the National Woman’s Hall of Fame in 2000.

Larry D. Clark is managing editor of Washington State Magazine, the award-winning research and alumni publication at Washington State University. His interest in the science writing of McClure’s came from research into fiction from magazines of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
{Other authors include Henry Drummond, Ray Stannard Baker, Robert Ball, and E.J. Edwards.)
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