Technology and the making of the Netherlands. The age of contested modernization, 1890-1970.

Schot, Johann; Arie Rip; Harry Lintsen (Hrsg. / Ed.).

ISBN 10: 0262013622 / ISBN 13: 9780262013628

Published by Walburg Press, MIT Press, 2010., 2010

About this Item

Quart, illustr. Org.-Hardcover, 634 S., 1 Bl., mit zahlreichen teils auch farbigen Illustrationen, wohlerhaltenes Exemplar. ISBN 9780262013628. - ENGLISH: Quarto, illustr. publisher's hardcover, 634 S., 1 f., with several illustrations, a well preserved copy. ISBN 9780262013628. - ENGLISH: Quarto, illustr. publisher's hardcover, 634 S., 1 f., with several illustrations, a well preserved copy. 1001 g.

Seller Inventory # 10529-0402

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Technology and the making of the Netherlands. The age of contested modernization, 1890-1970.
• Publisher: Walburg Press, MIT Press, 2010.
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262013622
• ISBN 13: 9780262013628
• Binding: Hardcover
• Weight: 1001 grams
• Seller catalogs:
  • REISELITERATUR - travel and exploration

About this title

Synopsis

An account of the trajectory of modernization through technology in the Netherlands.

This study offers both an account of twentieth-century technology in the Netherlands and a view of Dutch history through the lens of technology. It describes the trajectory of modernization through technology in certain characteristically Dutch contextsincluding the omnipresence of water, the pervasiveness of urbanization coupled with a high-tech agricultural sector, and the legacy of colonialismbut at the same time makes it clear that Dutch struggles over technology choices, infrastructure development, mass production, and the role of government are comparable to the experience of any Western industrialized country.

The book, which synthesizes findings originally presented in a series of seven volumes published in the Netherlands, uses the idea of contested modernization as an overarching concept through which to understand Dutch technological history. The modernizers of Dutch societyincluding engineers, management consultants, architects, and othersdid not always agree on how to modernize; moreover, the unruliness of specific practices often derailed or redirected implementation. Tensions between top-down and bottom-up modernization, and between scale-enlargement and more flexible arrangements of mutual coordination and cooperation shaped Dutch history.

The chapters examine such topics as attempts to create an industrial nation, materially connected through infrastructure; the conflicts that came with the arrival of mass production and the emergence of a consumer society; and land-use planning in a low-lying country.

About the Author

Harry Lintsen is a Professor of the History of Technology at the Eindhoven University of Technology.