Industrialization, Technology, and Sustainability

Written by prominent scholars in their respective fields, the collected essays in Industrialization, Technology, and Sustainability: A World History Reader provide a big-picture view of modern world history by focusing on specific themes of particular relevance in contemporary society. Students become familiar with major problems and major possibilities in energy use, pollution, technological advancement, and more.

The first section of the text features essays that address the move to modernity. Section Two examines industrialization, while Section Three explains how sound, thought, and image became connected through a process of technological advancement. In Section Four the readings explore connections between people and things through writings on the railroads, automobiles, and space exploration. The final section is devoted to the future consequences and possibilities of global industrialization.

Industrialization, Technology, and Sustainability unites a broad range of current topics and gives them a single, coherent, relevant narrative. It is well-suited to courses in modern world history and civilization, and also makes an excellent supplemental reader for classes on globalization and the history of technology.

J. Justin Castro, who earned his Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma, is an assistant professor of history at Arkansas State University. His writing has appeared in the Latin American Research Review, Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, and the Latin Americanist. His research interests include wireless technologies, globalization, nationalism, and technology and culture.

Robert M. Jordan earned his Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln and currently teaches at Colorado State University. He is particularly interested in digital history and uses a variety of technologies to incorporate digital methodologies into his classroom. In 2015, Dr. Jordan received the Preston David Award for Instructional Innovation.