The Power of the Machine: The Impact of Technology from 1700 to the Present By R. A. Buchanan
The Power of the Machine: The Impact of Technology from 1700 to the Present (Collectible First Edition)
An Authoritative Historical Analysis of the Industrial Revolutions and Technological Evolution
An Authoritative Historical Analysis of the Industrial Revolutions and Technological Evolution
Bibliographic Specifications
- Title: The Power of the Machine: The Impact of Technology from 1700 to the Present
- Author: R. A. Buchanan (Robert Angus Buchanan)
- Publisher: Viking (Penguin Books Ltd), London
- Publication Date: 1992
- ISBN-10: 0670836567 / ISBN-13: 9780670836567
- Edition Details: First Edition, First Impression. High-end historical and industrial sociology monograph.
- Binding: Hardcover with original publisher's heavy cloth boards, housed in a complete illustrated dust jacket under a protective archive cellophane wrapper.
- Physical Format: Octavo (8vo), 299 pages. Enhanced with historical industrial diagrams, mapping coordinates, and comprehensive archival source indexes.
- Language: English
Official Condition Report
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The Book: Very Good Plus (VG+)
- Exterior / Boards: The original publisher's heavy cloth boards are remarkably sharp, square, and firm across all edges. The spine is completely straight, robust, tight, and remains visually and structurally perfect.
- Interior: Exceptional and immaculate. The internal text blocks are clean, crisp, and fully intact. Free from handling soils, ink highlights, thumb soils, or previous owner inscriptions. Shows uniform, natural age-related browning and paper tanning across the margins, entirely standard for early 1990s Viking paper stock and serving as an authentic mark of its vintage provenance.
- Protection: This book has been beautifully maintained and looked after thus far, now preserved under a professional, removable archival-grade cellophane sleeve.
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The Dust Jacket: Very Good Plus (VG+)
- Condition: The original illustrated dust jacket is complete and unclipped. It exhibits only very slight, microscopic signs of standard shelf storage wear along the extreme corner tips, completely free from deep sun fading, chips, or tears.
Synopsis & Historical Value
Published in 1992 by Viking, The Power of the Machine is a masterfully executed, authoritative historical analysis that traces the seismic impact of technological innovation from the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in 1700 to the close of the 20th century. Renowned industrial historian R. A. Buchanan meticulously examines how mechanical leaps—ranging from early steam engines and transcontinental railway grids to electrical generation and digital computing networks—have fundamentally re-engineered global socio-economic power structures, urban environments, and human behavior. Buchanan goes beyond a mere cataloging of inventions; he provides a brilliant, philosophically grounded critique of technological determinism, maps out how machinery shaped the modern geopolitical landscape, and speculates on its future influence over human civilization. This first edition stands as a vital design archive and a highly prized resource for collectors of industrial archaeology, sociology, and economic history.
Published in 1992 by Viking, The Power of the Machine is a masterfully executed, authoritative historical analysis that traces the seismic impact of technological innovation from the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in 1700 to the close of the 20th century. Renowned industrial historian R. A. Buchanan meticulously examines how mechanical leaps—ranging from early steam engines and transcontinental railway grids to electrical generation and digital computing networks—have fundamentally re-engineered global socio-economic power structures, urban environments, and human behavior. Buchanan goes beyond a mere cataloging of inventions; he provides a brilliant, philosophically grounded critique of technological determinism, maps out how machinery shaped the modern geopolitical landscape, and speculates on its future influence over human civilization. This first edition stands as a vital design archive and a highly prized resource for collectors of industrial archaeology, sociology, and economic history.
Author Profile: R. A. Buchanan
Robert Angus Buchanan (1930–2020) was an exceptionally prominent British historian, academic, and author who is widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of industrial archaeology as a formal academic discipline. Serving for decades as Professor of the History of Technology at the University of Bath, Buchanan established the Centre for the History of Technology and authored seminal works that defined how modern scholars evaluate industrial monuments, manufacturing architecture, and mechanical engineering history. Renowned for his analytical precision, exhaustive archival work, and accessible prose, his publications are tightly held within academic and private libraries globally for their deep intellectual integrity and historical value.
Robert Angus Buchanan (1930–2020) was an exceptionally prominent British historian, academic, and author who is widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of industrial archaeology as a formal academic discipline. Serving for decades as Professor of the History of Technology at the University of Bath, Buchanan established the Centre for the History of Technology and authored seminal works that defined how modern scholars evaluate industrial monuments, manufacturing architecture, and mechanical engineering history. Renowned for his analytical precision, exhaustive archival work, and accessible prose, his publications are tightly held within academic and private libraries globally for their deep intellectual integrity and historical value.
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