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War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor
written by David A. Mindell
Studio : The Johns Hopkins University Press
by The Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher : The Johns Hopkins University Press
Released : 2000-03-24
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780801862502
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 3 reviews)
List Price : $18.95
Our Price : $11.21
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Product Description |
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In a familiar story, the USS Monitor battled the CSS Virginia (the armored and refitted USS Merrimack) at Hampton Roads in March of 1862. In War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor, David A. Mindell adds a new perspective to the story as he explores how mariners -- fighting "blindly" below the waterline -- lived and coped with the metal monster they called the "iron coffin." Mindell shows how the iron warship emerged as an idea and became practicable, how building it drew upon and forced changes in contemporary manufacturing technology, and how the vessel captured the nineteenth-century American popular and literary imaginations. Combining technical, personal, administrative, and literary analysis, Mindell examines the experience of the men aboard the Monitor and their reactions to the thrills and dangers that accompanied the new machine. The invention surrounded men with iron and threatened their heroism, their self-image as warriors, even their lives. Mindell also examines responses to this strange new warship by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, who prophetically saw in the Civil War a portent of the mechanized warfare of the future. The story of the Monitor shows how technology changes not only the tools but also the very experience of combat, generating effects that are still felt today in the era of "smart bombs" and pushbutton wars. "We find new significance in the otherwise well-known history of the Monitor. It is no longer the story of the heroic inventor and his impenetrable weapon thrusting themselves upon a doubtful and conservative bureaucracy... It is no longer the story of a heroic battle and the machine's epic loss soon after. Rather it is a story of people experiencing new machinery, attempting to make sense of its thrills, constrictions, and politics, and sensing its power and impotence -- both in glory and frustration." -- from War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor |
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Good Book. |
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The book was a bit too dry at times. But the overall story is quite amazing. I read it for class and found myself enjoying the read. So if you are at all interested in this time period, this is a good book! |
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fun times |
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I had to read this for my history of american technology class, and I have to say I did enjoy it. It goes into detail of how it really affected the lives of the people on the boat, especially like the letters sent from a man on the boat to his wife about the everyday life onboard. I specifically like how it points out the permanent change in battle; no longer do you see the men you kill, no more is the honor of hand-to-hand combat. You fight behind plates of steel, and don't look the man you fight with in the eye. It's not about the layout of the USS Monitor, it's about how it was a turning point in war technology. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn a bit about US history, without getting too technical for the common non-history guru person. |
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Superb war history, human history, literary history |
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One reviewer called this book, "a gem of a book... promises to be one of those small classics in the history of technology that sets a new standard for how the core questions of the field are framed and addressed." Right on! It's also a small classic in that it brings carefully documented history in the reach of the ordinary literate reader. This book is so well written that it reads like an adventure story rather than a dry history. It also debunks the myths about the Monitor that we learned as children, showing that the designer, the seamen, the politicians all contributed in their own ways to the myths. By referring to the diaries of one of the officers of the ship, the book brings every detail to rich and human life. We share the insights of the famous political and literary figures of the day, from Abraham Lincoln to Nathaniel Hawthorne to Herman Melville. We learn what really happened at Hampton Roads and what it all means for us today. And we learn about how "Smart weapons displace heroism from the field to the laboratory, from warriors to engineers, and from spectacle to secrecy." Everyone interested in the history of technology, the history of war, and the ways writers interpret events of the day will want to read this fine little book. |
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