Reinforced Concrete and the Modernization of American Building, 1900-1930 (Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology)

About this book

"Examining the proliferation of reinforced-concrete construction in the United States after 1900, Amy E. Slaton explores how scientific approaches and occupations displaced traditionally skilled labor and how the technology of concrete buildings - little studied by historians of engineering, architecture, or industry - offers a case study in the modernization of American production.". "Based on a wealth of data - including university curricula, laboratory and company records, organizational proceedings, blueprints, and promotional materials, as well as a body of physical evidence such as tools, instruments, building materials, and surviving reinforced-concrete buildings - this book argues that modern mass production in the United States came about not simply in answer to manufacturers' search for profits, but as a result of a complex of occupational and cultural factors."--BOOK JACKET.