Pillars of French Engineering

Abstract

Each of these books raises analysis of French engineering practices and structures to a new and higher plane. Both authors (social historians of technology) are technical 'realists', and they cogently demonstrate that technology is the negotiated outcome of cultural, economic, political and social interactions. Their insights into technical variability are grounded on comparative analysis. Eda Kranakis compares the engineering practices and cultures surrounding suspension bridge design and construction in early 19th-century France and America, while Ken Alder compares two proto-industrial weapons programmes, and their respective politics and technological life, in late 18thand early 19th-century France. Kranakis emphasizes the educational, cultural and institutional conditions that shape technology. Alder stresses the connections between political strife and the processes of technology selection. These perspectives are complementary, and are particularly suited to the distinctive context of French society, engineering, and technology.