cover image Lewis Mumford: Public Intellectual

Lewis Mumford: Public Intellectual

. Oxford University Press, USA, $65 (464pp) ISBN 978-0-19-506173-4

Based on papers delivered at a University of Pennsylvania seminar in 1984, these 16 essays and an editors' preface discuss the ideas and insights of Lewis Mumford (1895-1990), perhaps America's leading ``technical intellectual'' of the 20th century. The material is grouped in four categories relating to Mumford's attitudinal changes: technology, progress and regionalism; the megamachine and the mechanization-organizational dichotomy; values, personality and community; the survival of hope despite the tragic misuse of technology in war. These scholarly papers may attract lay readers who are willing to struggle with complex ideas, but they will appeal primarily to students of American culture or science. The editors have collaborated on numerous books on the history of technology. Illustrations not seen by PW. (July)