Carroll Pursell's Books

From Playgrounds to Playstation

The Interaction of Technology & Play

By: Carroll Pursell

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From Playgrounds to Playstation

The Interaction of Technology & Play

By: Carroll Pursell

This “engaging social history of play” explores how technology and culture have shaped toys, games, and leisure—and vice versa (Choice). In this romp through the changing landscape of nineteenth- and twentieth-century American toys, games, hobbies, and amusements, technology historian Carroll Pursell poses a simple but interesting question: What can we learn by studying the relationship between technology and play? From Playgrounds to PlayStation explores how play reflects and drives the evolution of American culture. Pursell engagingly examines the ways in which technology affects play and play shapes people. The objects that children (and adults) play with and play on, along with their games and the hobbies they pursue, can reinforce but also challenge gender roles and cultural norms. Inventors—who often talk about “playing” at their work, as if motivated by the pure fun of invention—have used new materials and technologies to reshape sports and gameplay, sometimes even crafting new, extreme forms of recreation, but always responding to popular demand. Drawing from a range of sources, including scholarly monographs, patent records, newspapers, and popular and technical journals, the book covers numerous modes and sites of play. Pursell touches on the safety-conscious playground reform movement, the dazzling mechanical innovations that gave rise to commercial amusement parks, and the media’s colorful promotion of toys, pastimes, and sporting events. Along the way, he shows readers how technology enables the forms, equipment, and devices of play to evolve constantly, both reflecting consumer choices and driving innovators and manufacturers to promote toys that involve entirely new kinds of play—from LEGOs and skateboards to beading kits and videogames.

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Page Count

277

Publisher

Johns Hopkins University Press+ORM

Published Date

ISBN 10

1421416514

ISBN 13

9781421416519

Technology in Postwar America

A History

By: Carroll Pursell

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Technology in Postwar America

A History

By: Carroll Pursell

Carroll Pursell tells the story of the evolution of American technology since World War II. His fascinating and surprising history links pop culture icons with landmarks in technological innovation and shows how postwar politics left their mark on everything from television, automobiles, and genetically engineered crops to contraceptives, Tupperware, and the Veg-O-Matic. Just as America's domestic and international policies became inextricably linked during the Cold War, so did the nation's public and private technologies. The spread of the suburbs fed into demands for an interstate highway system, which itself became implicated in urban renewal projects. Fear of slipping into a postwar economic depression was offset by the creation of "a consumers' republic" in which buying and using consumer goods became the ultimate act of citizenship and a symbol of an "American Way of Life." Pursell begins with the events of World War II and the increasing belief that technological progress and the science that supported it held the key to a stronger, richer, and happier America. He looks at the effect of returning American servicemen and servicewomen and the Marshall Plan, which sought to integrate Western Europe into America's economic, business, and technological structure. He considers the accumulating "problems" associated with American technological supremacy, which, by the end of the 1960s, led to a crisis of confidence. Pursell concludes with an analysis of how consumer technologies create a cultural understanding that makes political technologies acceptable and even seem inevitable, while those same political technologies provide both form and content for the technologies found at home and at work. By understanding this history, Pursell hopes to advance a better understanding of the postwar American self.

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Page Count

315

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0231511892

ISBN 13

9780231511896

White Heat

By: Carroll W. Pursell

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White Heat

By: Carroll W. Pursell

Technology has been called the art of the twentieth century. It is the expression of everything that makes us human. Our myths and rituals, our fantasies and creativity all find expression in our technology. The ability to forge tools by the fashioning of metal in its 'white heat' state was preceded by the creation of tools in stone. This was the first indication of humanity's capacity to shape and use the raw materials available to it. It reached its peak in the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century and today its momentum can be seen in every part of our lives. It is this combination of technological creativity and human passion which Carroll Pursell pursues in White Heat. Professor Pursell explores technology not as a succession of gadgets and gizmos but as a study of how society's values are embedded in them. Written to accompany a major television series and illustrated with some surprising and fascinating photographs, his book reveals a new layer of meaning to the devices, tools and machines which have been developed throughout human history.

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Page Count

228

Publisher

Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520089057

ISBN 13

9780520089051

From Playgrounds to Playstation

The Interaction of Technology & Play

By: Carroll Pursell

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From Playgrounds to Playstation

The Interaction of Technology & Play

By: Carroll Pursell

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Page Count

277

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Johns Hopkins University Press+ORM

Published Date

ISBN 10

1421416514

ISBN 13

9781421416519

The Machine in America

A Social History of Technology

By: Carroll Pursell

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The Machine in America

A Social History of Technology

By: Carroll Pursell

From the medieval farm implements used by the first colonists to the invisible links of the Internet, the history of technology in America is a history of society as well. This title analyzes technology's impact on the lives of women and men. It also discusses the innovation of an American system of manufactures.

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Page Count

417

Publisher

JHU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0801885787

ISBN 13

9780801885785

Technology in Postwar America

A History

By: Carroll Pursell

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Technology in Postwar America

A History

By: Carroll Pursell

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Page Count

315

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Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0231511892

ISBN 13

9780231511896

White Heat

By: Carroll W. Pursell

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White Heat

By: Carroll W. Pursell

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228

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Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520089057

ISBN 13

9780520089051

Chemistry in America 1876–1976

Historical Indicators

By: A. Thackray,J.L. Sturchio,P.T. Carroll,R.F Bud

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Chemistry in America 1876–1976

Historical Indicators

By: A. Thackray,J.L. Sturchio,P.T. Carroll,R.F Bud

This study is an outgrowth of our interest in the history of modern chemistry. The paucity of reliable, quantitative knowledge about past science was brought home forcibly to us when we undertook a research seminar in the comparative history of modern chemistry in Britain, Germany, and the United States. That seminar, which took place at the University of Pennsylvania in the spring of 1975, was paralleled by one devoted to the work of the "Annales School". The two seminars together catalyzed the attempt to construct historical measures of change in aspects of one science, or "chem ical indicators". The present volume displays our results. Perhaps our labors may be most usefully compared with the work of those students of medieval science who devote their best efforts to the establish ment of texts. Only when acceptable texts have been constructed from fragmentary and corrupt sources can scholars move on to the more satisfying business of making history. So too in the modern period, a necessary pre liminary to the full history of any scientific profession is the establishing of reliable quantitative information in the form of statistical series. This volume does not offer history. Instead it provides certain element- indicators -- that may be useful to individuals interested in the history of American chemistry and chemical industry, and suggestive for policy.

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Page Count

582

Publisher

Springer Science & Business Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

9401511241

ISBN 13

9789401511247

The Machine in America

A Social History of Technology

By: Professor Carroll Pursell,Carroll W. Pursell

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The Machine in America

A Social History of Technology

By: Professor Carroll Pursell,Carroll W. Pursell

From the medieval farm implements brought by the first colonists to the invisible links of the Internet, the history of technology in America is a history of our society as well. Arguing that "the tools and processes we use are a part of our lives, not simply instruments of our purpose," historian Carroll Pursell analyzes technology's impact upon the lives of women and men, their work, politics, and social relationships--and in turn, their influence upon technological development. Pursell shows how both the idea of progress and the mechanical means to harness the forces of nature developed and changed as they were brought from the Old World to the New. He describes the ways in which American industrial and agricultural technology began to take on a distinctive shape as it adapted and extended the technical base of the industrial revolution. He discusses the innovation of an American System of Manufactures and the mechanization of agriculture; new systems of mining, lumbering, and farming, which helped conquer and define the West; and the technologies that shaped the rise of cities. And he shows how the export of technology helped to foster American hegemony both in theWestern Hemisphere and elsewhere in the world. Pursell also argues that American technology has created a social hegemony, not only over the way we live but also over how we evaluate that life. He shows that such developments as scientific management techniques and industrial research changed Americans' lives as much as the mass production of such durable consumer goods as radios and automobiles. In many ways, he concludes, today's military-industrial complex is the legacy of the intense cooperation betweenscience and technology during World War II.

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Page Count

358

Published Date

ISBN 10

0801848172

ISBN 13

9780801848179

Journal of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, During His Visit to Canada, in 1776

By: Charles Carroll

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Journal of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, During His Visit to Canada, in 1776

By: Charles Carroll

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

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Page Count

138

Publisher

Palala Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1378016823

ISBN 13

9781378016824

JOURNAL OF CHARLES CARROLL OF

By: Charles 1737-1832 Carroll,Brantz 1809-1879 Mayer

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JOURNAL OF CHARLES CARROLL OF

By: Charles 1737-1832 Carroll,Brantz 1809-1879 Mayer

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Page Count

126

Publisher

Wentworth Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1360929754

ISBN 13

9781360929750

JOURNAL OF CHARLES CARROLL OF

By: Charles 1737-1832 Carroll,Brantz 1809-1879 Mayer

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JOURNAL OF CHARLES CARROLL OF

By: Charles 1737-1832 Carroll,Brantz 1809-1879 Mayer

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126

Publisher

Wentworth Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1360659110

ISBN 13

9781360659114

Book's by Carroll Pursell

From Playgrounds to Playstation

From Playgrounds to Playstation

Technology in Postwar America

Technology in Postwar America

White Heat

White Heat

From Playgrounds to Playstation

From Playgrounds to Playstation

The Machine in America

The Machine in America

Technology in Postwar America

Technology in Postwar America

White Heat

White Heat

Chemistry in America 1876–1976

Chemistry in America 1876–1976

The Machine in America

The Machine in America

Journal of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, During His Visit to Canada, in 1776

Journal of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, During His Visit to Canada, in 1776

JOURNAL OF CHARLES CARROLL OF

JOURNAL OF CHARLES CARROLL OF

JOURNAL OF CHARLES CARROLL OF

JOURNAL OF CHARLES CARROLL OF

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