Michael Adas is Abraham E. Voorhees Professor of History and Board of Governors' Chair at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

• Preface to the 2014 EditionIntroductionPart I. Before the Industrial RevolutionChapter 1. First Encounters: Impressions of Material Culture in an Age of ExplorationTechnology—Perceptions of Backwardness: Qualified Praise"Natural Philosophy"—Illiteracy and Faulty CalendarsScientific and Technological Convergence and the First Hierarchies of HumankindChapter 2. The Ascendancy of Science: Shifting Views of Non-Western Peoples in the Era of the EnlightenmentModel of Clay: The Rise and Decline of Sinophilism in Enlightenment ThoughtAncient Glories, Modern Ruins: The Orientalist Discover of Indian LearningAfrican Achievement and the Debate over the Abolition of the Slave TradeScientific Gauges and the Spirit of the TimesPart II. The Age of IndustrializationChapter 3. Global Hegemony and the Rise of Technology as the Main Measure of Human AchievementAfrica: Primitive Tools and the Savage MindIndia: The Retreat of Orienta1ismChina: Despotism and DeclineMateria1 Mastery as a Prerequisite of Civilized LifeChapter 4. Attributes of the Dominant: Scientific and Technological Foundations of the Civilizing MissionPerceptions of Man and Nature as Gauges of Western Uniqueness and SuperiorityThe Machine as CivilizerDisplacement and Revolution: Marx on the Impact of Machines in AsiaTime, Work, and DisciplineSpace, Accuracy, and UniformityWorlds Apart: The Case of Ye Ming-chenChapter 5. The Limits of Diffusion: Science and Technology in the Debate over the African and Asian Capacity for AcculturationThe First Generations of ImproversThe Search for Scientific and Technological Proofs of Racial InequalityQualifying the Civilizing Mission: Racists versus Improvers at the Tum of the CenturyMissing the Main Point: Science and Technology in Nineteenth-Century Racist ThoughtPart III. The Twentieth CenturyChapter 6. The Great War and the Assault on Scientific and Technological Measures of Human WorthThe Specter of Asia IndustrializedTrench Warfare and the Crisis of Western CivilizationChallenges to the Civilizing Mission and the Search for Alternative Measures of Human WorthEpilogue: Modernization Theory and the Revival of the Technological StandardIndex

Provocative and fascinating.... Adas's deft use of quotation gives the missionaries, travelers, explorers, administrators, and teachers their authentic voices. He provides a wealth of documentation. One learns things worth knowing on every page.... One leaves Machines as the Measure of Men persuaded by its essential analysis: that mastery of nature lay at the heart of Europe's comparison of itself to others. As an intellectual history of French and British assessments of Africa, China, and India, the book is wonderfully informative and nuanced. It will alter the debate about the history of Europe's relationship to the rest of the world.(New York Times Book Review) The terrain of Adas's magnificent book is vast. He starts with the first encounters of intrepid European explorers in the seventeenth century and ends with the seeds of doubt which the Great War in Europe sowed in the western civilizing process.... A vast range of sources are cited. Alternatives to the predominant ideology of western scientific and technological progress are explored, and the potential for diffusion of science and technology into different third world societies is also illuminated.(Times Higher Education Supplement) Remarkable' is an adjective that is most appropriate for this study. Broad in interpretation, rich in detail, and supported by a wealth of information, Michael Adas's work will command the attention of every scholar of modern imperialism, every student of the broad subject of 'technology.'... Adas offers an example of popular history at its very best, which is cultural history exquisitely constructed of detailed research, a well-designed overarching theme, and nicely polished prose.... It will long be pivotal in all discussions that revolve around the technology and culture of modern European expansion. In sum, this is a most compelling, splendid book.(American Historical Review)

Michael Adas is Abraham E. Voorhees Professor of History and Board of Governors' Chair at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

• Preface to the 2014 EditionIntroductionPart I. Before the Industrial RevolutionChapter 1. First Encounters: Impressions of Material Culture in an Age of ExplorationTechnology—Perceptions of Backwardness: Qualified Praise"Natural Philosophy"—Illiteracy and Faulty CalendarsScientific and Technological Convergence and the First Hierarchies of HumankindChapter 2. The Ascendancy of Science: Shifting Views of Non-Western Peoples in the Era of the EnlightenmentModel of Clay: The Rise and Decline of Sinophilism in Enlightenment ThoughtAncient Glories, Modern Ruins: The Orientalist Discover of Indian LearningAfrican Achievement and the Debate over the Abolition of the Slave TradeScientific Gauges and the Spirit of the TimesPart II. The Age of IndustrializationChapter 3. Global Hegemony and the Rise of Technology as the Main Measure of Human AchievementAfrica: Primitive Tools and the Savage MindIndia: The Retreat of Orienta1ismChina: Despotism and DeclineMateria1 Mastery as a Prerequisite of Civilized LifeChapter 4. Attributes of the Dominant: Scientific and Technological Foundations of the Civilizing MissionPerceptions of Man and Nature as Gauges of Western Uniqueness and SuperiorityThe Machine as CivilizerDisplacement and Revolution: Marx on the Impact of Machines in AsiaTime, Work, and DisciplineSpace, Accuracy, and UniformityWorlds Apart: The Case of Ye Ming-chenChapter 5. The Limits of Diffusion: Science and Technology in the Debate over the African and Asian Capacity for AcculturationThe First Generations of ImproversThe Search for Scientific and Technological Proofs of Racial InequalityQualifying the Civilizing Mission: Racists versus Improvers at the Tum of the CenturyMissing the Main Point: Science and Technology in Nineteenth-Century Racist ThoughtPart III. The Twentieth CenturyChapter 6. The Great War and the Assault on Scientific and Technological Measures of Human WorthThe Specter of Asia IndustrializedTrench Warfare and the Crisis of Western CivilizationChallenges to the Civilizing Mission and the Search for Alternative Measures of Human WorthEpilogue: Modernization Theory and the Revival of the Technological StandardIndex

Provocative and fascinating.... Adas's deft use of quotation gives the missionaries, travelers, explorers, administrators, and teachers their authentic voices. He provides a wealth of documentation. One learns things worth knowing on every page.... One leaves Machines as the Measure of Men persuaded by its essential analysis: that mastery of nature lay at the heart of Europe's comparison of itself to others. As an intellectual history of French and British assessments of Africa, China, and India, the book is wonderfully informative and nuanced. It will alter the debate about the history of Europe's relationship to the rest of the world.(New York Times Book Review) The terrain of Adas's magnificent book is vast. He starts with the first encounters of intrepid European explorers in the seventeenth century and ends with the seeds of doubt which the Great War in Europe sowed in the western civilizing process.... A vast range of sources are cited. Alternatives to the predominant ideology of western scientific and technological progress are explored, and the potential for diffusion of science and technology into different third world societies is also illuminated.(Times Higher Education Supplement) Remarkable' is an adjective that is most appropriate for this study. Broad in interpretation, rich in detail, and supported by a wealth of information, Michael Adas's work will command the attention of every scholar of modern imperialism, every student of the broad subject of 'technology.'... Adas offers an example of popular history at its very best, which is cultural history exquisitely constructed of detailed research, a well-designed overarching theme, and nicely polished prose.... It will long be pivotal in all discussions that revolve around the technology and culture of modern European expansion. In sum, this is a most compelling, splendid book.(American Historical Review)

Michael Adas is Abraham E. Voorhees Professor of History and Board of Governors' Chair at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

• Preface to the 2014 EditionIntroductionPart I. Before the Industrial RevolutionChapter 1. First Encounters: Impressions of Material Culture in an Age of ExplorationTechnology—Perceptions of Backwardness: Qualified Praise"Natural Philosophy"—Illiteracy and Faulty CalendarsScientific and Technological Convergence and the First Hierarchies of HumankindChapter 2. The Ascendancy of Science: Shifting Views of Non-Western Peoples in the Era of the EnlightenmentModel of Clay: The Rise and Decline of Sinophilism in Enlightenment ThoughtAncient Glories, Modern Ruins: The Orientalist Discover of Indian LearningAfrican Achievement and the Debate over the Abolition of the Slave TradeScientific Gauges and the Spirit of the TimesPart II. The Age of IndustrializationChapter 3. Global Hegemony and the Rise of Technology as the Main Measure of Human AchievementAfrica: Primitive Tools and the Savage MindIndia: The Retreat of Orienta1ismChina: Despotism and DeclineMateria1 Mastery as a Prerequisite of Civilized LifeChapter 4. Attributes of the Dominant: Scientific and Technological Foundations of the Civilizing MissionPerceptions of Man and Nature as Gauges of Western Uniqueness and SuperiorityThe Machine as CivilizerDisplacement and Revolution: Marx on the Impact of Machines in AsiaTime, Work, and DisciplineSpace, Accuracy, and UniformityWorlds Apart: The Case of Ye Ming-chenChapter 5. The Limits of Diffusion: Science and Technology in the Debate over the African and Asian Capacity for AcculturationThe First Generations of ImproversThe Search for Scientific and Technological Proofs of Racial InequalityQualifying the Civilizing Mission: Racists versus Improvers at the Tum of the CenturyMissing the Main Point: Science and Technology in Nineteenth-Century Racist ThoughtPart III. The Twentieth CenturyChapter 6. The Great War and the Assault on Scientific and Technological Measures of Human WorthThe Specter of Asia IndustrializedTrench Warfare and the Crisis of Western CivilizationChallenges to the Civilizing Mission and the Search for Alternative Measures of Human WorthEpilogue: Modernization Theory and the Revival of the Technological StandardIndex

Provocative and fascinating.... Adas's deft use of quotation gives the missionaries, travelers, explorers, administrators, and teachers their authentic voices. He provides a wealth of documentation. One learns things worth knowing on every page.... One leaves Machines as the Measure of Men persuaded by its essential analysis: that mastery of nature lay at the heart of Europe's comparison of itself to others. As an intellectual history of French and British assessments of Africa, China, and India, the book is wonderfully informative and nuanced. It will alter the debate about the history of Europe's relationship to the rest of the world.(New York Times Book Review) The terrain of Adas's magnificent book is vast. He starts with the first encounters of intrepid European explorers in the seventeenth century and ends with the seeds of doubt which the Great War in Europe sowed in the western civilizing process.... A vast range of sources are cited. Alternatives to the predominant ideology of western scientific and technological progress are explored, and the potential for diffusion of science and technology into different third world societies is also illuminated.(Times Higher Education Supplement) Remarkable' is an adjective that is most appropriate for this study. Broad in interpretation, rich in detail, and supported by a wealth of information, Michael Adas's work will command the attention of every scholar of modern imperialism, every student of the broad subject of 'technology.'... Adas offers an example of popular history at its very best, which is cultural history exquisitely constructed of detailed research, a well-designed overarching theme, and nicely polished prose.... It will long be pivotal in all discussions that revolve around the technology and culture of modern European expansion. In sum, this is a most compelling, splendid book.(American Historical Review)