Inventing Modern America by David Brown, MIT Press,
£20.95/$29.95, ISBN 0262025086
IT’S hardly a novel idea to profile outstanding people in the hope that their
careers will inspire others, but that is the declared aim of Inventing
Modern America. A somewhat Victorian scheme, it could have been dull, or at
best worthy. Surprise. It is a well-written, lavishly illustrated success, and a
cheerful one at that.
The subjects are all inventors and all of them have had a powerful impact on
our world. A few, such as Henry Ford, Robert Goddard and Buckminster Fuller, are
world-famous, but most will be…
