The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America

by Leo Marx

Overview

For over four decades, Leo Marx's work has focused on the relationship between technology and culture in 19th- and 20th-century America. His research helped to define--and continues to give depth to--the area of American studies concerned with the links between scientific and technological advances, and the way society and culture both determine these links. The Machine in the Garden fully examines the difference between the "pastoral" and "progressive" ideals which characterized early 19th-century American culture, and which ultimately evolved into the basis for much of the environmental and nuclear debates of contemporary society. This new edition is appearing in celebration of the 35th anniversary of Marx's classic text. It features a new afterword by the author on the process of writing this pioneering book, a work that all but founded the discipline now called American Studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199839186
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/24/2000
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Leo Marx is Professor Emeritus of the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

What People are Saying About This

Neil Comtton

The kind of book that sustains one's faith in the vitality of contemporary American scholarship.

Henry Nash Smith

This is a major book...[it has] earned for Mark a place in the first rank of Americanists...infectious.

Editorial Reviews

Paradoxically, in rereading this seemingly old-fashioned book, I had the sensation of encountering something quite new and fresh; it is a cultural investigation rather than a critical performance...Rather than a monument to the past, The Machine in the Garden remains a timely book.
—Times Literary Supplement

Richard Sennett

thekind of book that sustains one's faith in the vitality of contemporary American scholarship.

Neil Comtton

This is an important contribution to our understanding of some of the enigmas and conflicts at work in the American imagination, particularly in the 19th century.
—Encounter

Anthony Tanner

Praise for the previous edition:

"An exciting book, exemplifying studies in American culture at their best."—Hennig Cohen, Saturday Review

"The thesis of this impressive book is important, and Professor Marx has found a wealth of material to support it."—American Historical Review

"This is an important contribution to our understanding of some of the enigmas and conflicts at work in the American imagination, particularly in the 19th century."—Tony Tanner, Encounter

From the Publisher