National Technology Day: Recommended Reading List

January 6th marks National Technology Day. Technology has been a huge stepping stone in the advancement of so many cultures. From the technology we use in our everyday lives to NASA’s own technology used for space exploration, it’s always been closely connected to the overall progress of America.

In celebration of National Technology Day, we’re sharing a recommended reading list of books we’ve published surrounding the topic of technology and how it has impacted different communitites.

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NORTH CAROLINA IN THE CONNECTED AGE: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN A GLOBALIZING ECONOMY

BY MICHAEL L. WALDEN

Walden’s book has arrived on the scene at the perfect time. The challenges facing North Carolina are staggering, and decision makers at every level are searching for solid information. Walden gives us a no-frills, precise account of North Carolina’s economic transformation since the 1970s, the current economic forces driving the economy, and the impact these forces are having on North Carolina’s people and places. North Carolina in the Connected Age is a must-read book for everyone who cares about this state’s economic future–especially those who want to do something about it.

Billy Ray Hall, President, North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center

TECHNOLOGY IN THE GARDEN: RESEARCH PARKS AND REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

BY MICHAEL I. LUGER & HARVEY A. GOLDSTEIN

More than half of the 116 research parks now operating in the United States were established during the 1980s, with the aim of boosting regional economic growth. But until now no one has systematically analyzed whether research parks do in fact generate new businesses and jobs. Using their own surveys of all existing parks and case studies of three of the most successful–Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, Stanford Research Park in California, and the University of Utah Research Park–Michael Luger and Harvey Goldstein examine the economic impact of such facilities.

As the name suggests, a research park is typically meant to provide a spacious setting where basic and applied technological research can be quietly pursued. Because of the experience of a few older and prominent research parks, new parks are expected to generate economic growth for their regions. New or old, most parks have close ties to universities, which join in such ventures to enhance their capabilities as centers of research, provide outlets for entrepreneurial faculty members, and increase job opportunities for graduate students.

EARLY AMERICAN TECHNOLOGY: MAKING AND DOING THINGS FROM THE COLONIAL ERA TO 1850

EDITED BY JUDITH A. MCGAW

Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the University of North Carolina Press

Thanks to the masterful editorial hand of his student, Judith McGaw, Brooke Hindle’s original essay (reprinted herein) from his 1966 volume Technology in Early America is extended and deepened by nine new monographic contributions and an updated bibliographic essay. By probing the quotidian as well as the exceptional aspects of making and doing things in early America, these essays take us into new terrain and remind us in no uncertain terms that technology encompasses a good deal more than tools and machines. In urging us to set aside our preconceptions and recognize the richness, diversity, and complexity of technology in early America, they speak eloquently to the need for new scholarship and, indeed, a new way of thinking about a critical period of American history. . . . A fitting tribute to Brooke Hindle’s scholarship and influence on the field of the history of technology.

Merritt Roe Smith, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

HASHTAG ISLAM: HOW CYBER-ISLAMIC ENVIRONMENTS ARE TRANSFORMING RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY

BY GARY R. BUNT

Gary R. Bunt is a twenty-year pioneer in the study of cyber-Islamic environments (CIEs). In his new book, Bunt explores the diverse and surprising ways digital technology is shaping how Muslims across vast territories relate to religious authorities in fulfilling spiritual, mystical, and legalistic agendas. From social networks to websites, essential elements of religious practices and authority now have representation online. Muslims, embracing the immediacy and general accessibility of the internet, are increasingly turning to cyberspace for advice and answers to important religious questions. Online environments often challenge traditional models of authority, however. One result is the rise of digitally literate religious scholars and authorities whose influence and impact go beyond traditional boundaries of imams, mullahs, and shaikhs.

DEVICES AND DESIRES: GENDER, TECHNOLOGY, AND AMERICAN NURSING

BY MARGARETE SANDELOWSKI

A perceptive analysis of the nurse/technology relationship, exposing the gendered assumptions underlying nurses’ work with machines and equipment. . . . This book should be read by historians of technology and medical and nursing historians. [It] offers a distinctive context of contemporary health care and covers women–nurses–who receive little attention, despite their status as one of the largest groups of women workers.

American Historical Review

THE LATINO MIGRATION EXPERIENCE IN NORTH CAROLINA, REVISED AND EXPANDED SECOND EDITION: NEW ROOTS IN THE OLD NORTH STATE

BY HANNAH GILL

Now thoroughly updated and revised—with a new chapter on the Dreamer movement and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA)—this book offers North Carolinians a better understanding of their Latino neighbors, illuminating rather than enflaming debates on immigration. In the midst of a tumultuous political environment, North Carolina continues to feature significant in-migration of Mexicans and Latin Americans from both outside and inside the United States. Drawing on the voices of migrants as well as North Carolinians from communities affected by migration, Hannah Gill explains how larger social forces are causing demographic shifts, how the state is facing the challenges and opportunities presented by these changes, and how migrants experience the economic and social realities of their lives.

THE REAL THING: IMITATION AND AUTHENTICITY IN AMERICAN CULTURE, 1880-1940

BY MILES ORVELL

A rich and complex study. It casts new and revealing light on the cultural transformations of the early 20th century. By focusing on the tensions between authenticity and imitation within artistic forms, Orvell provides a new and challenging context for understanding figures too easily subject to formulaic interpretation.

The New Republic

CREATING CONSUMERS: HOME ECONOMISTS IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICA

BY CAROLYN M. GOLDSTEIN

Home economics emerged at the turn of the twentieth century as a movement to train women to be more efficient household managers. At the same moment, American families began to consume many more goods and services than they produced. To guide women in this transition, professional home economists had two major goals: to teach women to assume their new roles as modern consumers and to communicate homemakers’ needs to manufacturers and political leaders. Carolyn M. Goldstein charts the development of the profession from its origins as an educational movement to its identity as a source of consumer expertise in the interwar period to its virtual disappearance by the 1970s.