A Most Amazing Scene of Wonders
Electricity and Enlightenment in Early America
Seiten
2006
Harvard University Press (Verlag)
978-0-674-02299-7 (ISBN)
Harvard University Press (Verlag)
978-0-674-02299-7 (ISBN)
Delbourgo traces electricity through early American culture, exploring the relationships amongst human, natural, and divine powers in the 18th century. By examining natural philosophers, showmen, preachers, and medical therapists, he shows how electrical experiences were connected to cultural concerns that defined the American Enlightenment.
Benjamin Franklin's invention of the lightning rod is the founding fable of American science, but Franklin was only one of many early Americans fascinated by electricity. As a dramatically new physical experience, electricity amazed those who dared to tame the lightning and set it coursing through their own bodies. Thanks to its technological and medical utility, but also its surprising ability to defy rational experimental mastery, electricity was a powerful experience of enlightenment, at once social, intellectual, and spiritual.
In this compelling book, James Delbourgo moves beyond Franklin to trace the path of electricity through early American culture, exploring how the relationship between human, natural, and divine powers was understood in the eighteenth century. By examining the lives and visions of natural philosophers, spectacular showmen, religious preachers, and medical therapists, he shows how electrical experiences of wonder, terror, and awe were connected to a broad array of cultural concerns that defined the American Enlightenment. The history of lightning rods, electrical demonstrations, electric eels, and medical electricity reveals how early American science, medicine, and technology were shaped by a culture of commercial performance, evangelical religion, and republican politics from mid-century to the early republic.
The first book to situate early American experimental science in the context of a transatlantic public sphere, A Most Amazing Scene of Wonders offers a captivating view of the origins of American science and the cultural meaning of the American Enlightenment. In a story of shocks and sparks from New England to the Caribbean, Delbourgo brilliantly illuminates a revolutionary New World of wonder.
Benjamin Franklin's invention of the lightning rod is the founding fable of American science, but Franklin was only one of many early Americans fascinated by electricity. As a dramatically new physical experience, electricity amazed those who dared to tame the lightning and set it coursing through their own bodies. Thanks to its technological and medical utility, but also its surprising ability to defy rational experimental mastery, electricity was a powerful experience of enlightenment, at once social, intellectual, and spiritual.
In this compelling book, James Delbourgo moves beyond Franklin to trace the path of electricity through early American culture, exploring how the relationship between human, natural, and divine powers was understood in the eighteenth century. By examining the lives and visions of natural philosophers, spectacular showmen, religious preachers, and medical therapists, he shows how electrical experiences of wonder, terror, and awe were connected to a broad array of cultural concerns that defined the American Enlightenment. The history of lightning rods, electrical demonstrations, electric eels, and medical electricity reveals how early American science, medicine, and technology were shaped by a culture of commercial performance, evangelical religion, and republican politics from mid-century to the early republic.
The first book to situate early American experimental science in the context of a transatlantic public sphere, A Most Amazing Scene of Wonders offers a captivating view of the origins of American science and the cultural meaning of the American Enlightenment. In a story of shocks and sparks from New England to the Caribbean, Delbourgo brilliantly illuminates a revolutionary New World of wonder.
James Delbourgo is the James Westfall Thompson Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University.
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 14.11.2006 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | 15 halftones, 2 maps |
| Verlagsort | Cambridge, Mass |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 140 x 210 mm |
| Themenwelt | Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte |
| Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Elektrodynamik | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-674-02299-8 / 0674022998 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-674-02299-7 / 9780674022997 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
Mehr entdecken
aus dem Bereich
aus dem Bereich
der stille Abschied vom bäuerlichen Leben in Deutschland
Buch | Hardcover (2023)
C.H.Beck (Verlag)
CHF 32,15
vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart
Buch | Softcover (2024)
C.H.Beck (Verlag)
CHF 16,80
eine Geschichte der Welt in 99 Obsessionen
Buch | Hardcover (2023)
Klett-Cotta (Verlag)
CHF 34,90
