America As Second Creation: Technology And Narratives Of New Beginnings
by David E. Nye /
2003 / English / PDF
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After 1776, the former American colonies began to reimagine
themselves as a unified, self-created community. Technologies had
an important role in the resulting national narratives, and a few
technologies assumed particular prominence. Among these were the
axe, the mill, the canal, the railroad, and the irrigation dam. In
this book David Nye explores the stories that clustered around
these technologies. In doing so, he rediscovers an American story
of origins, with America conceived as a second creation built in
harmony with God's first creation.
After 1776, the former American colonies began to reimagine
themselves as a unified, self-created community. Technologies had
an important role in the resulting national narratives, and a few
technologies assumed particular prominence. Among these were the
axe, the mill, the canal, the railroad, and the irrigation dam. In
this book David Nye explores the stories that clustered around
these technologies. In doing so, he rediscovers an American story
of origins, with America conceived as a second creation built in
harmony with God's first creation.
While mainstream Americans constructed technological foundation
stories to explain their place in the New World, however,
marginalized groups told other stories of destruction and loss.
Native Americans protested the loss of their forests, fishermen
resisted the construction of dams, and early environmentalists
feared the exhaustion of resources. A water mill could be viewed as
the kernel of a new community or as a new way to exploit labor. If
passengers comprehended railways as part of a larger narrative
about American expansion and progress, many farmers attacked
railroad land grants. To explore these contradictions, Nye devotes
alternating chapters to narratives of second creation and to
narratives of those who rejected it.
While mainstream Americans constructed technological foundation
stories to explain their place in the New World, however,
marginalized groups told other stories of destruction and loss.
Native Americans protested the loss of their forests, fishermen
resisted the construction of dams, and early environmentalists
feared the exhaustion of resources. A water mill could be viewed as
the kernel of a new community or as a new way to exploit labor. If
passengers comprehended railways as part of a larger narrative
about American expansion and progress, many farmers attacked
railroad land grants. To explore these contradictions, Nye devotes
alternating chapters to narratives of second creation and to
narratives of those who rejected it.
Nye draws on popular literature, speeches, advertisements,
paintings, and many other media to create a history of American
foundation stories. He shows how these stories were revised
periodically, as social and economic conditions changed, without
ever erasing the earlier stories entirely. The image of the
isolated frontier family carving a homestead out of the wilderness
with an axe persists to this day, alongside later images and
narratives. In the book's conclusion, Nye considers the relation
between these earlier stories and such later American developments
as the conservation movement, narratives of environmental recovery,
and the idealization of wilderness.
Nye draws on popular literature, speeches, advertisements,
paintings, and many other media to create a history of American
foundation stories. He shows how these stories were revised
periodically, as social and economic conditions changed, without
ever erasing the earlier stories entirely. The image of the
isolated frontier family carving a homestead out of the wilderness
with an axe persists to this day, alongside later images and
narratives. In the book's conclusion, Nye considers the relation
between these earlier stories and such later American developments
as the conservation movement, narratives of environmental recovery,
and the idealization of wilderness.