Eight case studies and a bibliographic essay, with a fine introduction by the editor, add up to a valuable reconnaissance into important and disputed territory. This collection will, I feel sure, be widely adopted for classroom use; but it also calls for a redirection of research. It becomes clear that, in peace and in war, the military has been a key factor in the planning, introduction, and diffusion of technological change.
hugh G.J. Aitken, George D. Olds Professor of Economics and American Studies
This book is an eye-opener to those who think of military technology as affecting only the conduct of war. Instead, with this group of well-chosen case studies by outstanding scholars, Merritt roe Smith demonstrates the critical and complex impact of miliitary technology upon the organization of American industry and the character of American society.
Melvin Kranzberg, Callaway Professor of the History of Technology Gerogia Tech and founding editor of Technology and Culture
In his book, Military Enterprise and Technological Change, Merritt Roe Smith has made available for the first time, to both students and scholars, the complexities of the relationship between military technology and the broader field of history of technology. Historians of the late 19th century and all of the 20th century will be interested in this book, which is sure to stimate further research in the area.
Edward C. Ezell, Curator and Supervisor Division of Armed Forces History National Museum of American History Smithsonian Institution
Like Smith's prize-winning study of Harpers Ferry Armory, this bold and original new work makes a landmark contribution to the history of technology. Along with William McNeill's recent survey, The Pursuit of Power, it should produce a much-enhanced awareness of the need to appreciate and explore what has been up to now a truly underdeveloped area of scholarship and research: the crucial relationship between military needs and the emergence of the modern industrial and technological state.
W. David Lewis, Hudson Professor of History and Engineering Auburn University
The book treats an issue as timely as it is unexplored. Few current issues excite as much passion as the role of the U.S. military in technological design and production. In case after case, Roe Smith's collection of historians articulate the unique character of a military 'style' of technology, making it clear that the U.S. technological style might well have evolved differently in a context more open to market forces. It is immensely helpful to situate the present defense budget debate in this carefully crafted two hundred year analysis of the military-industrial complex.
Dr. John M. Staudenmaier, S.J., History of Technology, The University of Detriot