David Edgerton

From the acclaimed author of Britain's War Machine and The Shock of the Old, a bold reassessment of Britain's twentieth century. It is usual to see the United Kingdom as an island of continuity in an otherwise convulsed and unstable Europe; its political history a smooth sequence of administrations, from building a welfare state to coping with decline. Nobody would dream of writing the history of Germany, say, or the Soviet Union in this way. David Edgerton's major new history breaks out of the confines of traditional British national history to redefine what it was to British, and to reveal an unfamiliar place, subject to huge disruptions. This was not simply because of the world wars and global economic transformations, but in its very nature. Until the 1940s the United Kingdom was, Edgerton argues, an exceptional place: liberal, capitalist and anti-nationalist, at the heart of a European and global web of trade and influence. Then, as its global position collapsed, it became, for the first time and only briefly, a real, successful nation, with shared goals, horizons and industry, before reinventing itself again in the 1970s as part of the European Union and as the host for international capital, no longer capable of being a nation. Packed with surprising examples and arguments, The Rise and Fall of the British Nation gives us a grown-up, unsentimental history which takes business and warfare seriously, and which is crucial at a moment of serious reconsideration for the country and its future.

Un essai capital sur les rapports entre technique et société.Cette histoire globale de la technologie moderne prend le contre-pied des narrations usuelles sur les inventions de quelques individus géniaux pour mettre au premier plan lanalyse des usages collectifs. Elle amene a reevaluer profondement la signification des technologies couramment tenues pour avoir transforme la societe la pilule, linformatique, la bombe atomique, laviation et a prendre en compte une grande variete de technologies moins visibles mais non moins importantes, venant de diverses parties du monde.Parmi ces exemples meconnus : les pousse-pousse japonais, les tracteurs sovietiques, les usines baleinieres nazies, le petrole synthetique espagnol, etc. Cest que nombre de techniques anciennes recelent des potentiels de renovation considerables : voir le train avec le TGV !Entrelaçant histoire politique, histoire economique et histoire culturelle, ce livre met en cause lidee selon laquelle nous vivrions une ere de transformations techniques toujours plus rapides et suggere que les technologies les plus importantes pour le XXIe siecle ne sont guere reconnues pour telles. En sapant la technophilie naive et infondee (par exemple lidee dun pretendu age de linformation), et sans pour autant donner prise a une technophobie non moins naive, Edgerton appelle et inaugure une façon radicalement neuve de penser la technique dans lhistoire." Ce livre est un rappel essentiel de limportance des choses dans notre vie et de notre importance dans la vie des choses. " Steven Shapin

Un essai capital sur les rapports entre technique et société.Cette histoire globale de la technologie moderne prend le contre-pied des narrations usuelles sur les inventions de quelques individus géniaux pour mettre au premier plan lanalyse des usages collectifs. Elle amene a reevaluer profondement la signification des technologies couramment tenues pour avoir transforme la societe la pilule, linformatique, la bombe atomique, laviation et a prendre en compte une grande variete de technologies moins visibles mais non moins importantes, venant de diverses parties du monde.Parmi ces exemples meconnus : les pousse-pousse japonais, les tracteurs sovietiques, les usines baleinieres nazies, le petrole synthetique espagnol, etc. Cest que nombre de techniques anciennes recelent des potentiels de renovation considerables : voir le train avec le TGV !Entrelaçant histoire politique, histoire economique et histoire culturelle, ce livre met en cause lidee selon laquelle nous vivrions une ere de transformations techniques toujours plus rapides et suggere que les technologies les plus importantes pour le XXIe siecle ne sont guere reconnues pour telles. En sapant la technophilie naive et infondee (par exemple lidee dun pretendu age de linformation), et sans pour autant donner prise a une technophobie non moins naive, Edgerton appelle et inaugure une façon radicalement neuve de penser la technique dans lhistoire." Ce livre est un rappel essentiel de limportance des choses dans notre vie et de notre importance dans la vie des choses. " Steven Shapin

Out of a liberal, capitalist, genuinely global power of a unique kind, there arose from the 1940s a distinct British nation. This nation was committed to internal change, making it much more like the great continental powers. From the 1970s it became bound up both with the European Union and with foreign capital in new ways.David Edgertons fascinating perspective produces refreshed understanding of everything from the nature of British politics to the performance of British industry. Packed with surprising examples and arguments, The Rise and Fall of the British Nation gives us a grown-up, unsentimental history, one which is crucial at a moment of serious reconsideration for the country and its future.

From the acclaimed author of Britains War Machine and The Shock of the Old, a bold reassessment of Britains twentieth century.Itis usual to see the United Kingdom as an island of continuity in an otherwiseconvulsed and unstable Europe; its political history a smooth sequence ofadministrations, from building a welfare state to coping with decline. Nobodywould dream of writing the history of Germany, say, or the Soviet Union in thisway. David Edgertons major new history breaks out of the confines of traditionalBritish national history to redefine what it was to British, and to reveal anunfamiliar place, subject to huge disruptions. This was not simply because ofthe world wars and global economic transformations, but in its very nature. Until the 1940s the United Kingdom was, Edgerton argues, an exceptionalplace: liberal, capitalist and anti-nationalist, at the heart of a European andglobal web of trade and influence. Then, as its global position collapsed, itbecame, for the first time and only briefly, a real, successful nation, with shared goals, horizons andindustry, before reinventing itself again in the 1970s as part of the EuropeanUnion and as the host for international capital, no longer capable of being anation. Packed with surprising examples and arguments, The Rise and Fall of theBritish Nation gives usa grown-up, unsentimental history which takes business and warfare seriously,and which is crucial at a moment of serious reconsideration for the country andits future.

GUARDIAN BOOKS OF THE YEARThe familiar image of the British in the Second World War is that of the plucky underdog taking on German might. David Edgertons bold, compelling new history shows the conflict in a new light, with Britain as a very wealthy country, formidable in arms, ruthless in pursuit of its interests and sitting at the heart of a global production system.The British, indeed Churchillian, vision of war and modernity was challenged by repeated defeat by less well equipped enemies. Yet the end result was a vindication of this vision. Like the United States, a powerful Britain won a cheap victory, while others paid a great price. Britains War Machine, by putting resources, machines and experts at the heart of a global rather than merely imperial story, demolishes some of the most cherished myths about wartime Britain and gives us a very different and often unsettling picture of a great power in action

The story of the strange mixture of romanticism, militarism and technology that has made planes so important to England, from the brilliant author of Britains War MachineThe history of England and the aeroplane is one tangled with myths - of the Few and the Blitz, of boffins, flying machines, amateur inventors and muddling through. In England and the Aeroplane David Edgerton reverses received wisdom, showing that the aeroplane is a central and revealing aspect of an unfamiliar English nation: a warfare state dedicated to technology, industry, empire and military power.England had the strongest air force in the Great War, the largest industry in the world in the 1920s, outproduced Germany by 50% at the time of the Battle of Britain and was the third largest producers of aeroplanes well after this time. In a revelatory recounting of the story of aeronautical England, from its politics to its industry and culture, David Edgerton reconfigures some of the most important chapters of our history.Reviews:A brilliant polemicGuardianFull of good stories ... an illuminating readSpectatorA tour de force, after which the history of the aircraft industry will never be quite the same againBusiness HistoryDavid Edgertons sure-footed essay ... sees Britain from an unusual perspective ... His arguments provide sound backing for the idea that modern Britain is as much a warfare state as a welfare oneEconomistAbout the author:David Edgerton is Hans Rausing Professor at Imperial College London, where he was the founding director of the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine. He is the author of a sequence of groundbreaking books on 20th century Britain: Science, Technology and the British Industrial Decline, 1870-1970; Warfare State: Britain, 1920-1970; and Britains War Machine, published by Penguin. He is also the author of the iconoclastic and brilliant The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900.

Innovación y tradición Historia de la tecnología moderna David Edgerton En esta primera interpretación global de la historia de la tecnología, David Edgerton, catedrático del Imperial College de Londres, cuestiona la idea comunmente asumida de que vivimos en una epoca de superacion tecnologica constante y nos advierte que con frecuencia pasamos por alto las tecnologias que seran utiles para la sociedad del siglo XXI, algunas sorprendentemente antiguas como los preservativos, la maquina de coser, el cemento, la sierra mecanica o el frigorifico, y otras practicamente olvidadas, desde el petroleo sintetico español a loa cazas de combate egipcios, o de las camaras de gas americanas a las factorias carnicas del Rio de la Plata. A partir de una rigurosa investigacion que entrelaza historia politica, economica y cultural, el profesor Edgerton denunci ael ilusorio futurismo de la llamada “era de la informacion”, nos brinda una perspectiva distinta de nuestra relacion con la tecnica y en palabras del profesor Fernandez Armesto, “nos obliga a repensar la historia entera de la tecnologia moderna”. Texto solapa: David Edgerton, uno de los historiadores de la ciencia y la tecnologia mas destacados del Reino Unido, nacio en Montevideo. En la actualidad es Ha