We have long recognized technology as a driving force behind much historical and cultural change. The invention of the printing press initiated the Reformation. The development of the compass ushered in the Age of Exploration and the discovery of the New World. The cotton gin created the conditions...

We have long recognized technology as a driving force behind much historical and cultural change. The invention of the printing press initiated the Reformation. The development of the compass ushered in the Age of Exploration and the discovery of the New World. The cotton gin created the conditions that led to the Civil War. Now, in Beyond Engineering, science writer Robert Pool turns the question around to examine how society shapes technology. Drawing on such disparate fields as history, economics, risk analysis, management science, sociology, and psychology, Pool illuminates the complex, often fascinating interplay between machines and society, in a book that will revolutionize how we think about technology. We tend to think that reason guides technological development, that engineering expertise alone determines the final form an invention takes. But if you look closely enough at the history of any invention, says Pool, you will find that factors unrelated to engineering seem to have an almost equal impact. In his wide-ranging volume, he traces developments in nuclear energy, automobiles, light bulbs, commercial electricity, and personal computers, to reveal that the ultimate shape of a technology often has as much to do with outside and unforeseen forces. For instance, Pool explores the reasons why steam-powered cars lost out to internal combustion engines. He shows that the Stanley Steamer was in many ways superior to the Model T--it set a land speed record in 1906 of more than 127 miles per hour, it had no transmission (and no transmission headaches), and it was simpler (one Stanley engine had only twenty-two moving parts) and quieter than a gas engine--but the steamers were killed off by factors that had little or nothing to do with their engineering merits, including the Stanley twins' lack of business acumen and an outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease. Pool illuminates other aspects of technology as well. He traces how seemingly minor decisions made early along the path of development can have profound consequences further down the road, and perhaps most important, he argues that with the increasing complexity of our technological advances--from nuclear reactors to genetic engineering--the number of things that can go wrong multiplies, making it increasingly difficult to engineer risk out of the equation. Citing such catastrophes as Bhopal, Three Mile Island, the Exxon Valdez, the Challenger, and Chernobyl, he argues that is it time to rethink our approach to technology. The days are gone when machines were solely a product of larger-than-life inventors and hard-working engineers. Increasingly, technology will be a joint effort, with its design shaped not only by engineers and executives but also psychologists, political scientists, management theorists, risk specialists, regulators and courts, and the general public. Whether discussing bovine growth hormone, molten-salt reactors, or baboon-to-human transplants, Beyond Engineering is an engaging look at modern technology and an illuminating account of how technology and the modern world shape each other.

NO ESPIONAGE MISSIONS have been kept more secret than those involving American submarines. Only presidents and a select few have known the truth about the submarines that have for decades silently roamed the depths in a dangerous battle for information and advantage. Even the families of the men on...

NO ESPIONAGE MISSIONS have been kept more secret than those involving American submarines. Only presidents and a select few have known the truth about the submarines that have for decades silently roamed the depths in a dangerous battle for information and advantage. Even the families of the men on board had no idea what their husbands, sons and brothers were doing, and anyone who went looking for the truth behind these mysterious missions found only a veil of silence. America's submarine espionage remained one of the last great secrets.

Now, after six years of research, veteran investigative journalist Sherry Sontag and award-winning New York Times reporter Christopher Drew finally reveal the exciting, epic story of adventure, ingenuity, courage and disaster beneath the sea. Blind Man's Bluff shows for the first time how the Navy sent submarines wired with self-destruct charges into the heart of Soviet seas to tap crucial underwater telephone cables. Sontag and Drew unveil new evidence that the Navy's own negligence might have been responsible for the loss of the USS Scorpion, a submarine that disappeared, all hands lost, thirty years ago. They disclose for the first time details of the bitter war between the CIA and the Navy and how it threatened to sabotage one of America's most important undersea missions. They tell the complete story of the audacious attempt to steal a Soviet submarine with the help of eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, and how it was doomed from the start. And Sontag and Drew reveal how the Navy used the comforting notion of deep sea rescue vehicles to hide operations that were more James Bond than Jacques Cousteau.

Blind Man's Bluff contains anunforgettable array of characters, including the spy who brilliantly guided America's undersea cable tapping on the basis of childhood memories of the Mississippi River; the cowboy sub commander who brazenly outraced torpedoes and could

This innovative study examines the early years of the Red Army as it developed from a revolutionary partisan force into a modern, professional institution under the leadership of Mikhail Tukhachevsky, an important & controversial figure in the politics of the Stalin period. Sally Stoecker combines...

This innovative study examines the early years of the Red Army as it developed from a revolutionary partisan force into a modern, professional institution under the leadership of Mikhail Tukhachevsky, an important & controversial figure in the politics of the Stalin period. Sally Stoecker combines her institutional analysis of the formative period of the Soviet military with an astute look at the person & political maneuvers of Marshal Tukhachevsky & his complex relationship with Stalin, which eventually led to his spectacular downfall & execution in the Great Terror of the late 1930s.

Foreshadowing the twentieth-century experience, the Spanish American War was America's first modern foreign war. Catapulting the United States into an international world power, it had lasting international implications. Besides America's acquisition of Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Hawaii, and...

Foreshadowing the twentieth-century experience, the Spanish American War was America's first modern foreign war. Catapulting the United States into an international world power, it had lasting international implications. Besides America's acquisition of Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Hawaii, and Guam, the war led the United States to take to the international stage, confronting Germany and Japan, and creating a diplomatic bridge between Great Britain and the United States. For Spain the 1898-1899 conflict was the death knell of empire. This volume provides easily accessible information on the naval and army operations, Spanish operations, and the political background to the military events, with an emphasis on future foreign affairs.