Title Confluence : the nature of technology and the remaking of the Rhône / Sara B. Pritchard

Published Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2011

Click on the following:
EBSCO eBooks
ProQuest Ebook Central

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xvii, 371 pages) : illustrations, maps Series Harvard historical studies ; 172 Harvard historical studies ; v. 172. Contents Envisioning a new Rhône -- Imagining the nation's river -- Postwar transformations -- Local responses -- Rethinking the nation -- Rethinking the Rhône -- A new modern -- Conclusion : legacies of the Rhône Summary Because of its location, volume, speed, and propensity for severe flooding, the Rhône, France's most powerful river, has long influenced the economy, politics, and transportation networks of Europe. Humans have tried to control the Rhône for over two thousand years, but large-scale development did not occur until the twentieth century. The Rhône valley has undergone especially dramatic changes since World War II. Hydroelectric plants, nuclear reactors, and industrialized agriculture radically altered the river, as they simultaneously fueled both the physical and symbolic reconstruction of France. In Confluence, Sara B. Pritchard traces the Rhône's remaking since 1945. She interweaves this story with an analysis of how state officials, technical elites, and citizens connected the environment and technology to political identities and state-building. In the process, Pritchard illuminates the relationship between nature and nation in France. Pritchard's innovative integration of science and technology studies, environmental history, and the political history of modern France makes a powerful case for envirotechnical analysis: an approach that highlights the material and rhetorical links between ecological and technological systems. Her groundbreaking book demonstrates the importance of environmental management and technological development to culture and politics in the twentieth century. As Pritchard shows, reconstructing the Rhône remade France itself Sara B. Pritchard traces the Rhône's remaking since 1945, showing how state officials, technical elites, and citizens connected the environment and technology to political identities and state-building, and demonstrating the importance of environmental management and technological development to the culture and politics of modern France Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-351) and index Notes In English Print version record Subject River engineering -- Rhône River Watershed (Switzerland and France) BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Real Estate -- General. HISTORY -- Europe -- France. River engineering SUBJECT Rhône River (Switzerland and France) http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85113790 Subject Europe -- Rhône River Europe -- Rhône River Watershed Form Electronic book LC no. 2010039268 ISBN 9780674061231 0674061233

  Permalink