Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact (Smil, V.; 2005) [Book Review]

Interdisciplinary scholar Vaclav Smil has written a retrospective assessment of a remarkable era of scientific and technical innovation, primarily in North America and Europe. Smil locates in the late nineteenth century the origins of an "Age of Synergy," an age defined by the rise of electrical systems, the diffusion of internal combustion engines, a robust science of chemicals and materials, and the emergence of new modes of communication. Smil draws upon a broad array of secondary sources from the history of science and technology, economic history, and professional scientific and engineering institutions, as well as upon primary sources that illuminate the creation and reception of numerous technical innovations. However, Smil's focus on the world inside the lab and the workshop leads him to divide a bit too neatly technical and social change and to suggest that technical change leads - in a linear fashion - to social change.