Inventing Modern America by David Brown, MIT Press,
拢20.95/$29.95, ISBN 0262025086
IT鈥橲 hardly a novel idea to profile outstanding people in the hope that their
careers will inspire others, but that is the declared aim of Inventing
Modern America. A somewhat Victorian scheme, it could have been dull, or at
best worthy. Surprise. It is a well-written, lavishly illustrated success, and a
cheerful one at that.
The subjects are all inventors and all of them have had a powerful impact on
our world. A few, such as Henry Ford, Robert Goddard and Buckminster Fuller, are
world-famous, but most will be unfamiliar.
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Here are the developers of heart pacemakers, rocket propulsion, video games
and personal computers鈥攖he latest high technology. Here, too, are the
pioneers of things that are no longer cutting-edge, such as traffic signals,
plastics and tape cassettes. The names alone of all these forgotten or unsung
heroes reveal what a rich creative resource the immigrants who flooded into the
US during the 18th and 19th centuries were, all intent on falling into America鈥檚
melting pot.
The illustrations are splendid and include some amusing ones from earlier
days of advertising. There are portraits of all 35 inventors鈥攎ost of them
grinning. And this signals the tone of the book. It is impossible not to feel
elation at their achievements and the optimism of their country.