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Reviews
Reviews
Well researched and conceptually rich... a superior social history of concrete industrial buildings and the people—from engineers to workers—responsible for them.
[This] book is powerful; its claims are large and its analysis persuasive... [Slaton's] ability to present the continuities rather than the boundaries should give this book a wide readership; even if you are not interested in reinforced concrete, you should be.
The social effects and cultural influences of a new aesthetic in the built environment that Slaton explores are helpful to business and architectural historians alike... In a sophisticated and analytical vein, Slaton offers an alternative to many accounts of changes in American business that stress a search for productive efficiency driven by managerial innovation.
Well-researched, readable, and informative, the publication will be of interest to those concerned with both the technology and the social history of reinforced-concrete building.
[Slaton] makes good use of source material to make the case that forces other than simplistic technical imperatives drove an ideology of modernism within the concrete industry, precipitating conditions mediating the relationship of labor and technology, conditions that differed significantly from those prevalent in the wood and masonry building trades. She drives her point home with conviction.
Slaton's work is a sophisticated marriage of sociology and history.
A valuable contribution to a growing body of literature devoted to the history of the industrial production, design application, and cultural appreciation of modern materials.
Solidly researched, clearly and soundly argued, Reinforced Concrete and the Modernization of American Building, 1900-1930 is an exciting and provocative contribution to our understanding of the intersections among commerce, technology, and science at the turn of the twentieth century.
About
Book Details
Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x 9
Pages
272
ISBN
9780801872976
Illustration Description
11 halftones, 7 line drawings
Table of Contents
Introduction. Science and Commerce: Scenes from a Marriage
Chapter 1. Concrete Testing: The Academics at Work
Chapter 2. Science on Site: The Field-Testing and Regulation of Concrete Construction
Chapter
Introduction. Science and Commerce: Scenes from a Marriage
Chapter 1. Concrete Testing: The Academics at Work
Chapter 2. Science on Site: The Field-Testing and Regulation of Concrete Construction
Chapter 3. Science and the "Fair-Deal": Standards, Specifications, and Commercial Ambition
Chapter 4. The Business of Building: Technological and Managerial Techniques in Concrete Construction
Chapter 5. What "Modern" Meant: Reinforced Concrete and the Social History of Functionalist Design
Conclusion
