Technology: A World History

by Daniel R. Headrick

Overview

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 over nature through increasingly powerful innovations, he compares the evolution of technology in different parts of the world, providing a much broader account than is found in other histories of technology. We also discover how small changes sometimes have dramatic results—how, for instance, the stirrup revolutionized war and gave the Mongols a deadly advantage over the Chinese. And how the nailed horseshoe was a pivotal breakthrough for western farmers. Enlivened with many illustrations, Technology offers a fascinating look at the spread of inventions around the world, both as boons for humanity and as weapons of destruction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195156485
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	04/01/2009
Series:	New Oxford World History Series
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 2.30(d)

About the Author

Daniel R. Headrick is Professor of History and Social Science at Roosevelt University in Chicago.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1: Stone Age Technology
Chapter 2: Hydraulic Civilizations (4000-1500 BCE)
Chapter 3: Iron, horses, and Empires (1500 B.C.E. - 500 C.E.)
Chapter 4: Post-Classical and Medieval Revolutions (500-1400)
Chapter 5: An Age of Global Interactions (1300-1800)
Chapter 6: The First Industrial Revolution (1750-1869)
Chapter 7: The Acceleration of Change (1869-1939)
Chapter 8: Toward a Post-Industrial World (1939-2000)
Chronology
Suggested Reading
Index
Introduction
1. Stone Age Technology
2. Hydraulic Civilizations (4000-1500 BCE)
3. Iron, horses, and Empires (1500 B.C.E. - 500 C.E.)
4. Post-Classical and Medieval Revolutions (500-1400)
5. An Age of Global Interactions (1300-1800)
6. The First Industrial Revolution (1750-1869)
7. The Acceleration of Change (1869-1939)
8. Toward a Post-Industrial World (1939-2000)
Chronology
Suggested Reading
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Headrick restores a broad definition [of technology] that enhances the value of this wide-ranging survey....[I]t suits the New Oxford World History series goals of highlighting major trends and stimulating thinking."—CHOICE

From the Publisher