Technics and Civilization

Technics and Civilization first presented its compelling history of the machine and critical study of its effects on civilization in 1934-before television, the personal computer, or the Internet even appeared on our periphery.

Lewis Mumford (1895-1990) was a writer whose scope encompassed literary criticism, architecture, history, urban sociology, and philosophy. The author of more than thirty books, he was also the longtime architectural critic for The New Yorker. His many works include The City in History, Art and Technics, and Myth of the Machine. Mumford was eventually honored with the United States Medal of Freedom and Knight of the Order of the British Empire.

Foreword	p. ix
Introduction to the 1963 Edition	p. xv
Captions to Images from the 1934 Edition	p. xxi
Objectives	p. 3
Cultural Preparation	p. 9
Machines, Utilities, and "The Machine"	p. 9
The Monastery and the Clock	p. 12
Space, Distance, Movement	p. 18
The Influence of Capitalism	p. 23
From Fable to Fact	p. 28
The Obstacle of Animism	p. 31
The Road Through Magic	p. 36
Social Regimentation	p. 41
The Mechanical Universe	p. 45
The Duty to Invent	p. 52
Practical Anticipations	p. 55
Agents of Mechanization	p. 60
The Profile of Technics	p. 60
De Re Metallica	p. 65
Mining and Modern Capitalism	p. 74
The Primitive Engineer	p. 77
From Game-Hunt to Man-Hunt	p. 81
Warfare and Invention	p. 85
Military Mass-Production	p. 89
Drill and Deterioration	p. 94
Mars and Venus	p. 96
Consumptive Pull and Productive Drive	p. 102
The Eotechnic Phase	p. 107
Technical Syncretism	p. 107
The Technological Complex	p. 109
New Sources of Power	p. 112
Trunk, Plank, and Spar	p. 119
Through a Glass, Brightly	p. 124
Glass and the Ego	p. 128
The Primary Inventions	p. 131
Weakness and Strength	p. 142
The Paleotechnic Phase	p. 151
England's Belated Leadership	p. 151
The New Barbarism	p. 153
Carboniferous Capitalism	p. 156
The Steam Engine	p. 158
Blood and Iron	p. 163
The Destruction of Environment	p. 167
The Degradation of the Worker	p. 172
The Starvation of Life	p. 178
The Doctrine of Progress	p. 182
The Struggle for Existence	p. 185
Class and Nation	p. 187
The Empire of Muddle	p. 191
Power and Time	p. 196
The Esthetic Compensation	p. 199
Mechanical Triumphs	p. 205
The Paleotechnic Passage	p. 210
The Neotechnic Phase	p. 212
The Beginnings of Neotechnics	p. 212
The Importance of Science	p. 215
New Sources of Energy	p. 221
The Displacement of the Proletariat	p. 224
Neotechnic Materials	p. 229
Power and Mobility	p. 235
The Paradox of Communication	p. 239
The New Permanent Record	p. 242
Light and Life	p. 245
The Influence of Biology	p. 250
From Destruction to Conservation	p. 255
The Planning of Population	p. 260
The Present Pseudomorph	p. 263
Compensations and Reversions	p. 268
Summary of Social Reactions	p. 268
The Mechanical Routine	p. 269
Purposeless Materialism: Superfluous Power	p. 273
Co-operation versus Slavery	p. 278
Direct Attack on the Machine	p. 284
Romantic and Utilitarian	p. 285
The Cult of the Past	p. 288
The Return to Nature	p. 295
Organic and Mechanical Polarities	p. 299
Sport and the "Bitch-goddess"	p. 303
The Cult of Death	p. 307
The Minor Shock-Absorbers	p. 311
Resistance and Adjustment	p. 316
Assimilation of the Machine	p. 321
New Cultural Values	p. 321
The Neutrality of Order	p. 326
The Esthetic Experience of the Machine	p. 333
Photography as Means and Symbol	p. 337
The Growth of Functionalism	p. 344
The Simplification of the Environment	p. 357
The Objective Personality	p. 359
Orientation	p. 364
The Dissolution of "The Machine"	p. 364
Toward an Organic Ideology	p. 368
The Elements of Social Energetics	p. 373
Increase Conversion!	p. 380
Economize Production!	p. 383
Normalize Consumption!	p. 390
Basic Communism	p. 400
Socialize Creation!	p. 406
Work for Automaton and Amateur	p. 410
Political Control	p. 417
The Diminution of the Machine	p. 423
Toward a Dynamic Equilibrium	p. 429
Summary and Prospect	p. 433
Prefatory Note	p. v
Inventions	p. 437
Bibliography	p. 447
Acknowledgments	p. 475
Index	p. 477
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Technics and Civilization

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials