The Innovators, College

A richly illustrated introduction to the engineering triumphs that made America modern

In this age of microchips and deep space probes, it's hard to imagine life before electricity or passenger trains. An astonishing series of engineering innovations paved the way to the twentieth century, and transformed America into the world's mightiest industrial power. The Innovators tells the exciting story of the engineering pioneers whose discoveries so dramatically altered commerce, industry, and world history. The book takes readers into the workshops of America's early engineering geniuses, explaining how they came up with their ideas and later applied them in the marketplace. Devotees of history and technology will appreciate the finely drawn profiles of America's technical wizards, from the famous—including Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat; Samuel F.B. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph; and Thomas Edison, inventor of the first electrical power network—to the lesser known, such as J. Edgar Thompson, who built the Pennsylvania Railroad.

• From the author of the critically acclaimed The Tower and the Bridge
• Features over 80 illustrations of the engineers and their inventions

IRON, STEAM, AND EARLY INDUSTRY, 1776-1855.

Modern Engineering and the Transformation of America.

Watt, Telford, and the British Beginnings.

Fulton's Steamboat and the Mississippi.

Lowell and the American Industrial Revolution.

Francis and the Industrial Power Network.

CROSSING THE CONTINENT, 1830-1883.

The Stephensons, Thomson, and the Eastern Railroads.

Henry Morse, and the Telegraph.

St. Louis versus Chicago and the Continental Railroads.

Carnegie and the Climax of Steel.

Edison and the Network for Light.

The Centennial Revolutions, 1876-1883.

Notes and References.

Index.

Problems.

DAVID P. BILLINGTON, Professor of Civil Engineering at Princeton University, is the author of The Tower and the Bridge and Robert Maillart's Bridges: The Art of Engineering, winner of the 1979 Dexter Prize as the outstanding book on the history of technology.

The Innovators. A richly illustrated introduction to the engineering triumphs that made America modern.

Praise for The Tower and the Bridge

"Fascinating and informative...should be required reading for architects, engineers, and anyone who is interested in the special role of structural art in our technological society."
—Myron Goldsmith

"David Billington brings the special insight of an engineer to the study of history. The result is a provocative analysis...bound to excite and instruct a wide variety of readers, from the casual buff to the professional scholar. The book is a delight to read."
—Merritt Roe Smith