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The First Conglomerate 145 Years of the Singer Sewing Machine Company Review

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(More customer reviews)On the grounds of extensive research, Bissell makes the case that the Singer Sewing Machine Company was a leader in the industrialization leading to rising standards of living for the masses of average persons, beginning in the U. S. in the decades before the Civil War and continuing well into the 20th century. The Company was a leader not only in developing the sewing machine providing well-made, mass-produced clothing, but also in creating a large labor force, implementing progressive employee and business practices, and standing as a model for other companies formed in the course of industrialization. Indeed, the Singer Sewing Machine Company was so successful and so respected over a wide area of the globe that in the language of many Third World countries, the word singer is used for the noun sewing-machine and the verb to sew.
Bissell follows the history of the Company mostly by profiles of its succession of presidents focusing in their perspectives and practices as they faced different economic and social circumstances in the long history of the Company. Singer1s reputation and success suffered a severe setback in 1987 after a hostile takeover by Paul Bilzerian, who was later indicted on tax and securities violations. Only in the past five years or so has Singer been able to recover from this and regain something of its former prominent position. For following the Singer Sewing Machine Company from its founding until today, Bissell1s history of this major American Company is the definitive book on this subject.
Henry Berry, Book Reviewer
Editor/Publisher, The Small Press Book Review

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A business history of the Singer Sewing Machine Company as seen from the company president's office. Overview of sewing machine history and development. Brief biography of Isaac M. Singer followed by biographical sketches of succeeding company presidents over 145 years to the present day. Biographies of company presidents: Edward S. Clark, George Ross McKenzie, F. G. Bourne, Sir Douglas Alexander, Milton C. Lightner, Donald P. Kircher, Joseph B. Flavin, Paul Bilzerian and James H. Ting.

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Electronic Media, Second Edition: Then, Now, and Later Review

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(More customer reviews)It would be difficult to be alive and even partially aware in the USA or any developed country right now and not experience how electronics and rapidly changing technology are shaping our lives. I'm one who was around when there was only radio and no TV, then black and white TV, and finally color TV, the snail-paced Commodore computers, personal Atari video games you could plug into that TV set, and then IBM computers with even 10 MB hard drives--a miracle! It has been a whirlwind of change, sometimes nearly shocking. Now with the explosion of handheld devices and the social media (Facebook, Twitter, You Tube) where's it all headed? Good question, and one that will affect us all.
This book could easily qualify as a doctoral thesis, but it is written far better than a lot of them, I'll wager. It is beautifully written, down to earth, reader-friendly for sure. Yet it is also impressively scholarly. If you would like to read about where we have been, where we are, and where we will be going with TV, handheld devices, etc.--at least the basic directions--here's your book. Filled with well-documented research and statistics, including websites to visit for more information, and the publisher's website where you can extend your reading even further, thorough chapter-by-chapter notes and a detailed index at the end, this book also includes useful lists of contents at the head of each chapter.
You get a history of electronic media overviews of radio, TV, cable, satellite, microwave, and internet. Also there is a behind-the-scenes look at broadcast media, including how advertising works. Ever wonder how ratings work? See pages 159 and following. And there is much more. The last two chapters look at the media from the viewer/user's perspective and provides guidelines for the user.
Finally there is a thoughtful look at the future and how this multitude of devices could very well be affects us soon.
This is an impressive and very well done work that is interesting, enjoyable and informative to read.
Highly recommended

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Electronic Media connects the traditional world of broadcasting with the contemporary universe of digital electronic media. It provides a synopsis of the beginnings of electronic media in broadcasting, and the subsequent advancements into digital media. Underlying the structure of the book is a "See It Then, See It Now, See It Later" approach that focuses on how past innovations lay the groundwork for changing trends in technology, providing the opportunity and demand for change in both broadcasting and digital media.

FYI and Zoom-In boxes point to further information, tying together the immediate and long-ranging issues surrounding electronic media. Career Tracks feature the experiences of industry experts and share tips in how to approach this challenging industry.
. Overview of the history of electronic media, industry terms, and current media trends. Exploration of electronic media from both a media consumer and provider's perspective. Consideration of social media and its effects on everday and mass communication. Unique "See It Then, See It Now, See It Later" chapter structure places electronic media history into historical context. Companion Web site provides further insights to how communication technologies work. Now available in major e-reader formats and apps!

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Media and the American Mind: From Morse to McLuhan Review

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(More customer reviews)Although Czitron tackles an ambitious subject, mapping the history of the media, he succeeds where so many others have failed.
Czitron traces the media not as separate and discrete events, but as arenas wherein we as a society have sought to confront some of the more fundamental issues of our time. To me, the value of the book lies precisely in this uncovering of social themes. Unlike other media history books, which show how one medium influenced another's development (e.g., the telegraph sparked the radio) and then move on, Czitron shows us that most of the issues that arose early on are still very much with us (e.g., social regulation).
As a college professor, I frequently refer back to Czitron whenever I bring media discussions into my classes. My copy is dog-earred from several reads. And each time I read it, I capture some new nuance that I overlooked before. But, even though I say I am a professor, I can honestly admit that the book is easily accessible to students of mass communication at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
For those outside academia, this may or may not be the book for you, depending largely on your interest in issues of power and/or social thought. If, for example, you have read any of the Chicago School theorists like John Dewey or Walter Lippmann or are into any of the contemporary cultural theorists, you will like this book. If you are looking, on the other hand, for quick and dirty armchair reading, try something else. Also, if you are looking for someone who provides "THE one-and-only history of the mass media," this book is not for you.
In sum, Czitrom manages to provide several new vistas into contemporary media, challenging some conventions and engaging actively all who are willing to engage him. This isn't to say that you will always agree with him. But he makes his case and yet manages to leave room for ongoing discussion...just what any good author is supposed to do.

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In a fascinating and comprehensive intellectual history of modern communication in America, Daniel Czitrom examines the continuing contradictions between the progressive possibilities that new communications technologies offer and their use as instruments of domination and exploitation.

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Electrifying America: Social Meanings of a New Technology, 1880-1940 Review

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(More customer reviews)Did you know, in the early days of electricity, the power went off at 11:00 pm each night? Or that electricity was billed at a flat rate of $1 per day? Or that most homes had only one or two outlets and a light bulb hanging from a string?
This book is a compendium of both fascinating facts and substantial histories of the development of residential electrical usage in our country.
I love old houses and historical information, and perhaps because of that, I found this book to be a fascinating read. Some parts of it were a wee bit dry, where he delved into some of the more technical aspects of this modern utility, but the majority of the book was a treasure.
After reading this book, and gaining an better understanding of the history of electricity, I'd say, without hesitation, that introducing the modern convenience of electrical current into our homes may be the most significant discovery of the last 500 years.

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How did electricity enter everyday life in America? Using Muncie, Indiana- the Lynds' now iconic Middletown - as a touchstone, David Nye explores howelectricity seeped into and redefined American culture. With an eye for tellingdetails from archival sources and a broad understanding of cultural and socialhistory, he creates a thought-provoking panorama of a technology fundamental tomodern life.Emphasizing the experiences of ordinary men and women rather than thelives of inventors and entrepreneurs, Nye treats electrification as a set oftechnical possibilities that were selectively adopted to create the streetcarsuburb, the amusement park, the "Great White Way," the assembly line, theelectrified home, and the industrialized farm. He shows how electricity touchedevery part of American life, how it became an extension of political ideologies, howit virtually created the image of the modern city, and how it even pervadedcolloquial speech, confirming the values of high energy and speed that have becomehallmarks of the twentieth century. He also pursues the social meaning ofelectrification as expressed in utopian ideas and exhibits at world's fairs, andexplores the evocation of electrical landscapes in painting, literature, andphotography.Electrifying America combines chronology and topicality to examine themajor forms of light and power as they came into general use. It shows that in thecity electrification promoted a more varied landscape and made possible new artforms and new consumption environments. In the factory, electricity permitted acomplete redesign of the size and scale of operations, shifting power away from theshop floor to managers. Electrical appliances redefined domestic work andtransformed the landscape of the home, while on the farm electricity laid thefoundation for today's agribusiness.David E. Nye teaches American history at theUniversity of Copenhagen. He has published books on Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, aswell as Image Worlds, a study of photography and corporate identities at GeneralElectric.

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Designing Modern America: Broadway to Main Street Review

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(More customer reviews)Modernism was the artistic world's response to the widescale destruction and carnage of the Great War. Although the United States came out of the War as the world's strongest economic power, it was late to join in the Modernist movement. As late as 1925, the United States was unable to find qualified craftsman or manufactures working in the modern spirit to attend the Paris Exposition. This Exposition was to serve as the high point of the Art Deco movement.
Into this creative void, entered two American theater designers, Joseph Urban and Norman Bel Geddes. Sensing a need and market for new ideas, they left the Broadway theater and branched out into a truly astonding array of artistic ventures. Working seperately, they designed clothes, jewlery and fabric. In the world of architecture, they designed theaters, office buildings, houses and night clubs. They ventured into areas such as automobile, train and ship design. The two men became America's first and most influential industrial designers. Urban and Bel Geddes' creations dominated American material culture from the late 1920's to the mid 1950's.
There are some very attractive coffe table books about American Design during this period. From such books as "American Modern", "Machine Age", and "American Streamlined Design", I knew they were important designers but I had no idea of the sheer scale of their creations. "Designing Modern America" does not have the beautiful pictures of the earlier mentioned books but for detailed information on the age and history of its two design giants, it is a superior book. Highly recommended.

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From the 1920s through the 1950s, two individuals, Joseph Urban and Norman Bel Geddes, did more, by far, to create the image of "America" and make it synonymous with modernity than any of their contemporaries. Urban and Bel Geddes were leading Broadway stage designers and directors who turned their prodigious talents to other projects, becoming mavericks first in industrial design and then in commercial design, fashion, architecture, and more. The two men gave shape to the most quintessential symbols of the modern American lifestyle, including movies, cars, department stores, and nightclubs, along with private homes, kitchens, stoves, fridges, magazines, and numerous household furnishings.Illustrated with more than 130 photographs of their influential designs, this book tells the engrossing story of Urban and Bel Geddes. Christopher Innes shows how these two men with a background in theater lent dramatic flair to everything they designed and how this theatricality gave the distinctive modernity they created such wide appeal. If the American lifestyle has been much imitated across the globe over the past fifty years, says Innes, it is due in large measure to the designs of Urban and Bel Geddes. Together they were responsible for creating what has been called the "Golden Age" of American culture.

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Archigram Review

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(More customer reviews)Content-wise the book is great, but all the images are black and white, which in terms of the work of archigram, is a disappointment. I will certainly end up buying a second book to fill in the blanks that this one leaves.

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"In late 1960, in various flats in Hampstead, a loose group of people started to meet: to criticize projects, to concoct letters to the press, to combine to make competition projects, and generally prop one another up against the boredom of working in a London architectural office. It became obvious that some publication would help. The main British magazines did not at that time publish student work, so that Archigram was reacting to this as well as the general sterility of the scene. The title came from a notion of a more urgent and simple item than a journal, like a 'telegram' or 'aerogramme,' hence 'archi(tecture)-gram.'...By this time Peter Cook, David Greene, and Mike Webb, in making a broadsheet, had started a new Group."Thus begins Archigram, a chronicle of the work of a group of young British architects that became the most influential architecture movement of the 1960s, as told by the members themselves. It includes material published in early issues of their journal, as well as numerous texts, poems, comics, photocollages, drawings, and fantastical architecture projects. Work presented includes Instant City, pod living, the Features Monte Carlo entertainment center, Blow-out Village, and the Cushicle personalized enclosure. Archigram's influence continues unabated: direct descendants of the group's work include Lebbeus Woods, Neil Denari, Takasaki Masaharu, and Morphosis.This title is a facsimile edition of a book originally published in 1972, with a new introduction by Michael Webb.

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Yesterday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of the American Future Review

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(More customer reviews)"Yesterday's Tomorrows" is a look at how both popular culture and leading scientists, from the 1800s to the 1970s viewed the future. Joseph Corn and Brian Horrigan, using a variety of source materials, present these visions, both optimistic and grim, in a manner that avoids derision or arrogance. After all, some of these came true, and, in some cases, we wish the others had come true. But, as Corn and Horrigan point out, that's the beauty of the future: anything is still possible. The best way to explore how others viewed the future is through pictures, and this book has plenty. Corn and Horrigan draw on pictures, sketches and illustrations from magazines, TV shows, movies and books. While many of these visions, such as Buck Rogers' ray gun or a helicopter in every garage, are now nostalgic, many others, such as Buckminister Fuller's houses, still invoke wonder and awe. Corn and Horrigan provide a balanced approach to their theme by drawing from both popular culture and the scientific community's conception of what our life would be like. The book runs the gamut from future visions of cities, housing, transportation and warfare. Some ideas such as lasers have become commonplace while others like the flying tanks are prototypes that were passed over in favor of more practical options. But as the authors point out, who are we to judge these ideas from the vantage point of our time? Corn and Horrigan are careful not to poke fun at these concepts, but instead present them and explain their significance to the context of the times which produced them. Both fun and thought-provoking, this book is an excellent glimpse into not only the future, but into our dreams that make our tomorrows. Highly recommended.

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Enormous skyscrapers will house residents and workers who happily go "for weeks" without setting foot on the ground. Streamlined, "hurricane-proof" houses will pivot on their foundations like weather vanes. The family car will turn into an airplane so easily that "a woman can do it in five minutes." Our wars will be fought by robots. And our living room furniture-waterproof, of course-will clean up with a squirt from the garden hose. InYesterday's Tomorrows Joseph J. Corn and Brian Horrigan explore the future as Americans earlier in the last century expected it to happen. Filled with vivid color images and lively text, the book is eloquent testimony to the confidence-and, at times, the naive faith-Americans have had in science and technology. The future that emerges here, the authors conclude, is one in which technology changes, but society and politics usually do not.The authors draw on a wide variety of sources-popular-science magazines, science fiction, world fair exhibits, films, advertisements, and plans for things only dreamed of. From Jules Verne to the Jetsons, from a 500-passenger flying wing to an anti-aircraft flying buzz-saw, the vision of the future as seen through the eyes of the past demonstrates the play of the American imagination on the canvas of the future.

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A Nation Transformed by Information: How Information Has Shaped the United States from Colonial Times to the Present Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is a collection of essays on the movement of information, and how it has transformed the United States from its colonial beginnings to today. At the very beginning, the founders of the country subsidized the transportation of newspapers through the postal system; this allowed the free flow of information between cities and states, across the entire continent. As technology increased, it inevitably speeded and expanded the amount of information flowing throughout the country--from the railroad, through the telegraph, telephone, radio, motion pictures, television, and on into computers.
This book is an exciting history of information media. Though written by no less than seven contributors, it pulls together into seamless whole, almost as if written by one author. The depth of information is breathtaking, and the conclusions reached are fascinating. Indeed, I think that they admirably proved their contention that there was continuity in the development of information media, and I myself repeatedly saw history repeat itself through their narrative, right up to today.
This is a fascinating book, and one that I recommend without reservation.

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