Cities of Light and Heat: Domesticating Gas and Electricity in Urban America
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.50 (771 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0271024828 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 248 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-03-15 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
But these voices for the new technology brought with them their own social attitudes and cultural values. But by the early 1900s educators, home builders, architects, and salespersons were becoming increasingly important as gas and electric utilities and appliances reached more and more American homes. Cities of Light and Heat shows the importance of culture, politics, and urban growth in shaping technological change in the cities of North America.. In Kansas City and Denver, as in most communities throughout the U.S., business executives, city leaders, and engineers acted as early promoters of the new technology. Cities of Light and Heat takes us to Kansas City and Denver during the late nineteenth century when gas and electricity were introduced to these "instant cities" of the west. By mid-century, whether in the classroom or in advertisements
"Middle chapters are the Best" according to A Customer. Being a Masters student of History in Denver, Rose's work is recommended reading. Unless the processes and politics of technology and industrialization turn you on, the first two and final two chapters will be slow going. But in the middle three chapters Rose hits his stride describing how the utility companies placed appliances and power tools into turn-of-the-century "home ec" and "shop" classes to get an entire generation ho
He paints a wonderfully rich portrait of the relationships among the modern business corporation, its ‘agents of diffusion,’ and the mass of urban consumers. “In Cities of Light and Heat Mark Rose has done for electric and gas systems what Sam Bass Warner did for streetcars. He demonstrates both that utility systems helped determine the character of developing cities and that the unique politics of each city determined the character of its utility system. Cowan, Author of More Work for Mother“Mark Rose’s tale of two cities captures the corporate culture of the age. Using an interdisciplinary approach, he makes significant contributions to the history of cities and to the study of technology and culture.”—Harold Platt. Rose has tapped an uncommonly rich trove of archival sources from Denver and Kansas City to provide us with an uncommonly rich portrait of the men and women who shaped first the
He is the author of Interstate: Express Highway Politics, 1939–1989 (1992) and the co-author of Energy and Transport: Historical Perspectives on Policy Issues (1982).. Mark H. Rose is Professor of History at Florida Atlantic University