Ruth Schwartz Cowan, A Social History of American Technology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997)


I. IN THE BEGINNING

1. The Land, the Natives, and the Settlers

2. Husbandry and Huswifery in the Colonies

3. Colonial Artisans
 

II. INDUSTRIALIZATION

4. The Early Decades of Industrialization

5. Transportation Revolutions

6. Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Engineers

7. Industrial Society and Technological Systems
    Industrialization, Dependency, and Technological Systems
    The Telegraph System
    The Railroad System
    The Petroleum System
    The Telephone System
    The Electric System
    The Character of Industrialized Society
    Conclusion: Industrialization and Technological Systems
 
8. Daily Life and Mundane Work

9. American Ideas about Technology
 

III. TWENTIETH-CENTURY TECHNOLOGIES

10. Automobiles and Automobility

11. Taxpayers, Generals, and Aviation

12. Communication Technologies and Social Control

13. Biotechnology
    Science, Technology, and Technoscience
    Hybrid Corn
    Penicillin
    The Birth Control Pill
    Conclusion