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E-book Compound Histories : Materials, Governance and Production, 1760 1840

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Penilaian

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Power, transformation, promise, subjugation: terms that might easily be invoked to describe the decades between 1760 and 1840. Together they point toward the multi-faceted developments through which Europe took on its modern character and dominant position in the world – what this volume refers to as ‘compound histories’. Simultaneously linked to the Baconian dic-tum that ‘knowledge is power’ and the brute facts of power-driven conquest and exploitation, this period is characterized by the historical tensions through which the promise of progress and subjugation of regions and resources around the world fed off and gave rise to social, political, economic, cultural, scientific, technological and environmental transformations. It was a time marked by the interactive appearance of new, janus-faced forms of political organization, scientific and technological capabilities, social and economic configurations: the growth of democracy coupled with empire; increasing abil-ities to harness the material world and its forces for productive ends coupled with destructive wars and environmental degradation; opportunities for great wealth creation coupled with new strains of poverty and deprivation.It is this complex weave and the question of what binds its threads together that continue to make the ‘age of revolution’ so intriguing to historians.1 While there is certainly no single answer to this question, which requires insights drawn from multiple subdisciplines of history, the contention undergirding this volume is that one key element has been insufficiently explored and inte-grated into the larger picture of historical development. Playfair viewed chemistry as the foremost scientific agent of the terms we have identified as defining this period of history. The growing powers chemists exer-cised over the material world, he declared, were leading to its subjugation, yielding “astonishing transformations” and the promise of understanding and absolute control. Though Playfair limited his remarks to the relations between humans and the material world, he and countless others recognized and engaged with chemistry in ways that brought the material and social realms together. Through their manipulative interactions with an increasing range of materials, chemists and chemistry left their mark virtually everywhere: increas-ing agricultural yields, expanding the range and scale of industrial production, extending the reach and precision of governance programs and practices, spearheading social improvement and public health. But so too did they con-tribute to environmental degradation through the unbridled exploitation of resources and aggravated industrial pollution, as well as to unsafe labor condi-tions and misery, the ferocity of warfare and the rapacious practices of empire.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

902 WER c

Penerbit

Netherlands : BRILL., 2017

Deskripsi Fisik

402 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9789004325562

Klasifikasi

902

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

Miscellany of History

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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