Over the last 200 years mechanization has moved from being a marginal marvel, of interest to scientists and tinkerers, to the dominant condition of modern society and economy, so much so that it's now easy to imagine a future where mechanization even enters into the human mind and body. Siegfried Giedion's extraordinary, encyclopedic book traces the various ways in which, for better and for worse, mechanization has assumed control of our lives, from modern systems of hygiene and waste management, to agricultural production, fashion and beyond. This book isn't only clearly written but also eloquent and thoughtful in its investigation of mechanization's reach and appeal. It offers fascinating insights into the intersection between mechanization and the imagination, as manifested in literature and the visual arts. With a wealth of unusual and intriguing illustrations taken from old sales catalogs, industrial manuals, magazines and other sources, this book constitutes a remarkable and endlessly suggestive history of modernity itself, as comprehensive as it is provocatively eccentric.

Foreword
Anonymous history
Springs of mechanizaton
Means of mechanization (locks, assembly line)
Mechanization encounters the organic (agriculture, bread making, meat production)
Mechanization encounters human surroundings (furniture)
Mechanization encounters the household (kitchen, laundering, refrigeration)
Mechanization of the bath
Conclusion
List of Illustrations
Index

About the Author

Sigfried Giedion (1888–1968) taught at the Federal Institute of Technology and was Mellon Lecturer at the Washington National Gallery and the Charles Elliot Norton Lecturer at Harvard University. His other works include Space, Time, and Architecture and The Eternal Present.

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