American Technological Sublime [Paperback]

David E. Nye (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 1996

Technology has long played a central role in the formation of Americans' sense of selfhood. From the first canal systems through the moon landing, Americans have, for better or worse, derived unity from the common feeling of awe inspired by large-scale applications of technological prowess. American Technological Sublime continues the exploration of the social construction of technology that David Nye began in his award-winning book Electrifying America. Here Nye examines the continuing appeal of the "technological sublime" (a term coined by Perry Miller) as a key to the nation's history, using as examples the natural sites, architectural forms, and technological achievements that ordinary people have valued intensely.American Technological Sublime is a study of the politics of perception in industrial society. Arranged chronologically, it suggests that the sublime itself has a history - that sublime experiences are emotional configurations that emerge from new social and technological conditions, and that each new configuration to some extent undermines and displaces the older versions. After giving a short history of the sublime as an aesthetic category, Nye describes the reemergence and democratization of the concept in the early nineteenth century as an expression of the American sense of specialness.What has filled the American public with wonder, awe, even terror? David Nye selects the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, the Erie Canal, the first transcontinental railroad, Eads Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, the major international expositions, the Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909, the Empire State Building, and Boulder Dam. He then looks at the atom bomb tests and the Apollo mission as examples of the increasing ambivalence of the technological sublime in the postwar world. The festivities surrounding the rededication of the Statue of Liberty in 1986 become a touchstone reflecting the transformation of the American experience of the sublime over two centuries. Nye concludes with a vision of the modern-day "consumer sublime" as manifested in the fantasy world of Las Vegas.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Americans have a unique relationship to all levels of technology, one that has also changed over time. Nye (Electrifying America, MIT Pr., 1990) explores this "technological sublime" in a history of technology based not in engineering but as one "concerned with the social context of technology." Chapters cover specific technologies, for example, bridges or the atomic bomb. Nye's insightful use of Fourth of July celebrations, world's fairs, and centenaries is particularly effective. The concluding chapter, "Consumer's Sublime," indicates that our technological relationship is headed in a new direction. Skillfully written and easily read, this is recommended for all collections and is essential for history of science collections.
Michael D. Cramer, Virginia Polytechnic Inst. & State Univ. Libs., Blacksburg
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"David Nye always has something interesting and suggestive tosay about the role of technology in American culture and society.American Technological Sublime is...a book that can beprofitably and enjoyably read by specialists and general readersalike. It is an estimable piece of historical interpretationand writing and deserves a wide readership." David Nasaw, Boston Globe

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (February 28, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262640341
• ISBN-13: 978-0262640343
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #524,447 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David E. Nye's publications focus on technology and American society. He was born in Boston, and educated at Amherst College and the University of Minnesota. He has taught in both the United States and Europe, and he has lectured in every western European country. Author or editor of 20 books, he has won grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Leverhulme Foundation, and national research councils in Denmark and Holland. He has appeared on NOVA, the BBC, and Danish television, and has been a visiting scholar at Cambridge, Leeds, Harvard, MIT, Warwick, Oviedo, and Notre Dame. In 2005 he received the Leonardo da Vinci Medal, the lifetime achievement award and highest honor of the Society for the History of Technoloy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awe and wonder of America, December 8, 2006

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: American Technological Sublime (Paperback)

I use David Nye's text as one my assigned readings in the History of Technology course I am teaching at the local community college. It is good at giving more than a simple description of technology or of technological development and change over time, but rather provides an insight that involves the sociological, psychological, philosophical and even spiritual at times. The idea of the sublime is an interesting one, one that relates not only to things technological nor to things American, but when these concepts are put together, it produces a unique creation.

David Nye is not only a follower of Leo Marx, but was in fact one of his students, so it makes sense that there is a strong influence in method and content. Nye credits Leo Marx with the term `technological sublime', and worked later to apply it in different ways to the development in the course of American history.

`If any man-made object can be called sublime, surely the Golden Gate Bridge can. ... Icon of San Francisco and constantly featured on travel posters, postcards and brochures, it has become an instantly recognizable landmark. Yet, like every sublime object, this magnificent piece of civil engineering cannot be comprehended through words and images alone. When visited, it outstrips expectations.'

Nye develops certain key elements and icons such as the Golden Gate Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, the electric city-scape at night, and even developments such as nuclear weapons and space travel as examples of the sublime. These things creep into our consciousness and influence the way other things become part of the sublime, as Nye's final chapter on the consumer's sublime indicates. The sublime is not a simple concept, and not just a visual one - all the senses must be employed, and both rational and emotional parts of our understanding come into play.

`The steam locomotive shook the ground and filled the air with an alien smell of steam, smoke, and sparks; the Saturn rocket did much the same thing on a larger scale. The strong contrast between the silence of a rocket's liftoff and the sudden roar that follows a few seconds later is also a vital element in making that spectacle sublime. The sheer size of the crowd attracted to a technological display further arouses the emotions.'

The sublime can be part of the natural world, too - the Grand Canyon is held up as an example. Of course, the elements of the natural world play into many of the sublime elements of technological creation - the Golden Gate Bridge might be less dramatic were it placed in a different location.

The concept of the sublime itself has a long history, being drawn from philosophers such as Immanuel Kant (Critique of Judgement) and Edmund Burke (Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful) as well as artists and other creative types. `The classical definitions of the sublime were written by and for intellectual elites,' Nye states. However, the sublime is in fact more widely accessible, and often recognised (if not directly named) by the majority of people.

This is a fascinating book, and one that gives a perspective on the development of the history of technology beyond the typical.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awe and wonder in America, May 10, 2007

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

I use David Nye's text as one my assigned readings in the History of Technology course I am teaching at the local community college. It is good at giving more than a simple description of technology or of technological development and change over time, but rather provides an insight that involves the sociological, psychological, philosophical and even spiritual at times. The idea of the sublime is an interesting one, one that relates not only to things technological nor to things American, but when these concepts are put together, it produces a unique creation.

David Nye is not only a follower of Leo Marx, but was in fact one of his students, so it makes sense that there is a strong influence in method and content. Nye credits Leo Marx with the term `technological sublime', and worked later to apply it in different ways to the development in the course of American history.

`If any man-made object can be called sublime, surely the Golden Gate Bridge can. ... Icon of San Francisco and constantly featured on travel posters, postcards and brochures, it has become an instantly recognizable landmark. Yet, like every sublime object, this magnificent piece of civil engineering cannot be comprehended through words and images alone. When visited, it outstrips expectations.'

Nye develops certain key elements and icons such as the Golden Gate Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, the electric city-scape at night, and even developments such as nuclear weapons and space travel as examples of the sublime. These things creep into our consciousness and influence the way other things become part of the sublime, as Nye's final chapter on the consumer's sublime indicates. The sublime is not a simple concept, and not just a visual one - all the senses must be employed, and both rational and emotional parts of our understanding come into play.

`The steam locomotive shook the ground and filled the air with an alien smell of steam, smoke, and sparks; the Saturn rocket did much the same thing on a larger scale. The strong contrast between the silence of a rocket's liftoff and the sudden roar that follows a few seconds later is also a vital element in making that spectacle sublime. The sheer size of the crowd attracted to a technological display further arouses the emotions.'

The sublime can be part of the natural world, too - the Grand Canyon is held up as an example. Of course, the elements of the natural world play into many of the sublime elements of technological creation - the Golden Gate Bridge might be less dramatic were it placed in a different location.

The concept of the sublime itself has a long history, being drawn from philosophers such as Immanuel Kant (Critique of Judgement) and Edmund Burke (Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful) as well as artists and other creative types. `The classical definitions of the sublime were written by and for intellectual elites,' Nye states. However, the sublime is in fact more widely accessible, and often recognised (if not directly named) by the majority of people.

This is a fascinating book, and one that gives a perspective on the development of the history of technology beyond the typical.

12 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A study within American techno-euphoria and liberal pieites., May 14, 1999

By 

Rob Wilson - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Technological Sublime (Paperback)

This is a useful book, full of scope and sway, but marred in my reading by being written (too uncritically) from within the techno-euphoria and liberal pieties of American Studies confirming what is so exceptional and blessed about being American. As such, it is a book more about American pastoral (a la Leo Marx) than about the traumas and will to imperial and global domination of the sublime but David Nye is too much of a devoted Marxian and Americanist to realize this is so. Anyway, read it and be amazed a la Whitman or Kerouac, dear reader, at the Broadway lights and the Hoover Dam!