Most Wonderful Machine: Mechanization and Social Change in Berkshire Paper Making, 1801-1885, by Judith A McGaw

Synopsis: On a visit to a Berkshire paper mill, the narrator of a Melville short story views the “wonderful” papermaking machine with awe, calling it a “miracle of inscrutable intricacy.” Manifesting a similar nineteenth-century fascination with machinery, paper mill owners and workers made an industrial revolution in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, examined here by Judith McGaw.

1989 CO-WINNER OF THE SIDNEY EDELSTEIN PRIZE (HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY)

Published: 1987 | ISBN: 978-0691006253

Mini-bio: Judith A. McGaw is associate professor of the history of technology at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Paperback Edition: Most Wonderful Machine