Confluence
eBook - PDF

Confluence

The Nature of Technology and the Remaking of the Rhône

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Confluence

The Nature of Technology and the Remaking of the Rhône

About this book

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.

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Yes, you can access Confluence by Sara B. Pritchard in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & 20th Century History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Table of contents

  1. Contents
  2. List of Maps and Figures
  3. Prologue
  4. Introduction: Nature, Technology, and History
  5. 1. Envisioning a New Rhône
  6. 2. Imagining the Nation's River
  7. 3. Postwar Transformations
  8. 4. Local Responses
  9. 5. Rethinking the Nation
  10. 6. Rethinking the Rhône
  11. 7. A New Modern
  12. Conclusion: Legacies of the Rhône
  13. List of Abbreviations
  14. Notes
  15. Bibliography
  16. Acknowledgments
  17. Index