The Digital Hand: How Computers Changed the Work of American Manufacturing, Transportation, and Retail Industries [Hardcover]

James W. Cortada (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195165888 | ISBN-13: 978-0195165883 | Publication Date: December 4, 2003 | Edition: 1st Ed.

In The Digital Hand, James W. Cortada combines detailed analysis with narrative history to provide a broad overview of computing's role in sixteen industries, accounting for nearly half of the U.S. economy. Beginning in 1950, when commercial applications of digital technology began to appear, Cortada examines the ways different industries adopted new technologies, as well as the ways their innovative applications influenced other industries and the U.S economy. In addition, to this account of computers' impact on industry, Cortada also demonstrates how industries themselves influenced the nature of digital technology. Managers, economists, and anyone interested in the history of modern business will appreciate this historical analysis of digital technology's many roles and its future possibilities in a wide array of industries. A detailed picture of what the infrastructure of the Information Age really looks like and how we got there, The Digital Hand is a sweeping survey of how computers transformed the American economy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is by any standard an outstanding contribution to the field. . . there is a huge value in his richly detailed narrative. This set of books will be the standard source on demand-side computing for perhaps a generation. --Martin Campbell-Kelly, Business History Review

"Cortada has perhaps the deepest understandind of the growing and changing impact of computers in society--this series is off to a strong start as a definitive treatment of their roles in specific economic sectors."--Communication Booknotes Quarterly

About the Author

James W. Cortada is a Senior Consultant at IBM Consulting Group and the author of nearly two dozen books on information technology, business transformation, and knowledge management.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1st Ed. edition (December 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195165888
• ISBN-13: 978-0195165883
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #638,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was trained as an historian with a Ph.D. in modern history, but have spent nearly 40 years at IBM in sales and consulting and am the author of a dozen books on European history and two dozen on the history of information technologies and another dozen on business management. My interests are largely around the role of information in moder societies: use, managemnt, and history. I am currently writing a global history of how computing spread around the world so fast and am publishing a book on how historians think with a lot of my experiences, called Hunting for History. I just did a book on the role of information as THE thing businesses do, make, and worry about, called Information and the Modern Corporation. It was a lot of fun to write and is intended for everyone.