Title: Engineering the Revolution
Subtitle: arms and Enlightenment in France, 1763-1815
First published: 1997
Description: The French Revolution and Industrial Revolution together inaugurated the modern era. But recent historical "revisionists" have divorced eighteenth-century material conditions from concurrent political struggles. This book's anti-teleological approach repudiates technological determinism to document the forging of a new relationship between technology and politics in Revolutionary France. It does so through the history of a particular artifact - the gun. Expanding the "political" to include conflict over material objects, Ken Alder rethinks the nature of engineering rationality, the origins of mass production, and our interpretation of the French Revolution.
Subjects: Politics and government, Technology and civilization, Political aspects of Technology and civilization, Enlightenment, Military History, Artillery, Influence, Technological innovations, Military engineers, Political activity, History, France, history, revolution, 1789-1799, causes, Artillerie, Innovations, Histoire, Ingénieurs militaires, Activité politique, Siècle des Lumières, Technologie et civilisation, Aspect politique, Politique et gouvernement, Histoire militaire, Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.), Political aspects, Wapenproductie, Franse Revolutie, Technische vernieuwing, Armes, Technique et civilisation, Mouvement des Lumières
Places: France
Time periods: 1789-1815, 18th century, Revolution, 1789-1799
LC classification: DC151 .A58 1997