A Companion to American Technology

This latest addition to the well‐established Blackwell Companions to American History series examines how technology became the driving force behind North American society. In his introduction editor Carroll Pursell explains how American society depended on the ability of her early colonists to harness the country's resources with the aid of mechanical means. One may, perhaps, be forgiven for wondering why, given the importance of technology to American society, this volume appears so late in the series.

As with earlier volumes in the series the present volume is a collection of essays by key scholars drawing on recent published research in...