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About this item
Highlights
- None of the spectators who gathered on the Hudson River shore on August 17, 1808, could have known the importance of the object they had come to see and, mostly, deride: Robert Fulton's new steamboat.
- About the Author: Kirkpatrick Sale is the secretary of the E. F. Schumacher Society, a contributing editor of The Nation, and the author of nine previous books, including Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Conquest and Rebels Against the Future: The Luddites and Their War on the Industrial Revolution.
- 256 Pages
- Biography + Autobiography, Science + Technology
Description
Book Synopsis
None of the spectators who gathered on the Hudson River shore on August 17, 1808, could have known the importance of the object they had come to see and, mostly, deride: Robert Fulton's new steamboat. But as Kirkpatrick Sale shows in this remarkable biography, Fulton's "large, noisy, showy, fast, brash, exciting, powerful, and audacious" machine would -- for better or worse -- irrevocably transform nineteenth-century America.Set against a brilliant portrait of a dynamic period in history, The Fire of His Genius tells the story of the fiercely driven man whose invention opened up America's interior to waves of settlers, created and sustained industrial and plantation economies in the nation's heartland, and facilitated the destruction of the remaining Indian civilizations. Probing Fulton's genius but also laying bare the darker side of the man -- and the darker side of the American dream -- Kirkpatrick Sale tells an extraordinary tale with deftness, zest, and unflagging verve.
Review Quotes
Kirkus Reviews A lively, contrarian study...[Sale] has made a solid contribution to the history of transportation and early America alike.
Library Journal Superb, beautifully written historiography...An informative, moving story that personalizes the relatively obscure life of a self-taught tinkerer who had a genius for self-promotion and exploiting the discoveries of others.
About the Author
Kirkpatrick Sale is the secretary of the E. F. Schumacher Society, a contributing editor of The Nation, and the author of nine previous books, including Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Conquest and Rebels Against the Future: The Luddites and Their War on the Industrial Revolution.Dimensions (Overall): 8.41 Inches (H) x 5.5 Inches (W) x .67 Inches (D)
Weight: .59 Pounds
Suggested Age: 22 Years and Up
Number of Pages: 256
Genre: Biography + Autobiography
Sub-Genre: Science + Technology
Publisher: Free Press
Format: Paperback
Author: Kirkpatrick Sale
Language: English
Street Date: September 10, 2002
TCIN: 1005546467
UPC: 9780743223218
Item Number (DPCI): 247-10-7657
Origin: Made in the USA or Imported
Shipping details
Estimated ship dimensions: 0.67 inches length x 5.5 inches width x 8.41 inches height
Estimated ship weight: 0.59 pounds
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