{"product_id":"machines-as-the-measure-of-men-9780801479809","title":"Machines as the Measure of Men","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOver the past five centuries, advances in Western understanding of and control over the material world have strongly influenced European responses to non-Western peoples and cultures. In Machines as the Measure of Men, Michael Adas explores the ways in which European perceptions of their scientific and technological superiority shaped their...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eProvocative and fascinating.... Adas's deft use of quotation gives the missionaries, travelers, explorers, administrators, and teachers their authentic voices. He provides a wealth of documentation. One learns things worth knowing on every page.... One leaves \u003ci\u003eMachines as the Measure of Men\u003c\/i\u003e persuaded by its essential analysis: that mastery of nature lay at the heart of Europe's comparison of itself to others. As an intellectual history of French and British assessments of Africa, China, and India, the book is wonderfully informative and nuanced. It will alter the debate about the history of Europe's relationship to the rest of the world.\u003c\/p\u003e * New York Times Book Review *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe terrain of Adas's magnificent book is vast. He starts with the first encounters of intrepid European explorers in the seventeenth century and ends with the seeds of doubt which the Great War in Europe sowed in the western civilizing process.... A vast range of sources are cited. Alternatives to the predominant ideology of western scientific and technological progress are explored, and the potential for diffusion of science and technology into different third world societies is also illuminated.\u003c\/p\u003e * Times Higher Education Supplement *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eRemarkable' is an adjective that is most appropriate for this study. Broad in interpretation, rich in detail, and supported by a wealth of information, Michael Adas's work will command the attention of every scholar of modern imperialism, every student of the broad subject of 'technology.'... Adas offers an example of popular history at its very best, which is cultural history exquisitely constructed of detailed research, a well-designed overarching theme, and nicely polished prose.... It will long be pivotal in all discussions that revolve around the technology and culture of modern European expansion. In sum, this is a most compelling, splendid book.\u003c\/p\u003e * American Historical Review *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003ePreface to the 2014 Edition\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePart I. Before the Industrial Revolution\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChapter 1. First Encounters: Impressions of Material Culture in an Age of Exploration\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eTechnology—Perceptions of Backwardness: Qualified Praise\u003cbr\u003e\"Natural Philosophy\"—Illiteracy and Faulty Calendars\u003cbr\u003eScientific and Technological Convergence and the First Hierarchies of Humankind\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChapter 2. The Ascendancy of Science: Shifting Views of Non-Western Peoples in the Era of the Enlightenment\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eModel of Clay: The Rise and Decline of Sinophilism in Enlightenment Thought\u003cbr\u003eAncient Glories, Modern Ruins: The Orientalist Discover of Indian Learning\u003cbr\u003eAfrican Achievement and the Debate over the Abolition of the Slave Trade\u003cbr\u003eScientific Gauges and the Spirit of the Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePart II. The Age of Industrialization\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChapter 3. Global Hegemony and the Rise of Technology as the Main Measure of Human Achievement\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eAfrica: Primitive Tools and the Savage Mind\u003cbr\u003eIndia: The Retreat of Orienta1ism\u003cbr\u003eChina: Despotism and Decline\u003cbr\u003eMateria1 Mastery as a Prerequisite of Civilized Life\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChapter 4. Attributes of the Dominant: Scientific and Technological Foundations of the Civilizing Mission\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003ePerceptions of Man and Nature as Gauges of Western Uniqueness and Superiority\u003cbr\u003eThe Machine as Civilizer\u003cbr\u003eDisplacement and Revolution: Marx on the Impact of Machines in Asia\u003cbr\u003eTime, Work, and Discipline\u003cbr\u003eSpace, Accuracy, and Uniformity\u003cbr\u003eWorlds Apart: The Case of Ye Ming-chen\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChapter 5. The Limits of Diffusion: Science and Technology in the Debate over the African and Asian Capacity for Acculturation\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe First Generations of Improvers\u003cbr\u003eThe Search for Scientific and Technological Proofs of Racial Inequality\u003cbr\u003eQualifying the Civilizing Mission: Racists versus Improvers at the Tum of the Century\u003cbr\u003eMissing the Main Point: Science and Technology in Nineteenth-Century Racist Thought\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePart III. The Twentieth Century\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChapter 6. The Great War and the Assault on Scientific and Technological Measures of Human Worth\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Specter of Asia Industrialized\u003cbr\u003eTrench Warfare and the Crisis of Western Civilization\u003cbr\u003eChallenges to the Civilizing Mission and the Search for Alternative Measures of Human Worth\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEpilogue: Modernization Theory and the Revival of the Technological Standard\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIndex\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cornell University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48865921565015,"sku":"9780801479809","price":26.59,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780801479809.jpg?v=1722276209","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/machines-as-the-measure-of-men-9780801479809","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}