The Broken Machine: Histories of Technology, Social Order, and the Self

A cultural history of technological breakdown, social order, and the self in the modern Atlantic World.

The Broken Machine explores the intertwined histories of breaking machines, social order, and the self in the modern Atlantic World. Edward Jones-Imhotep reveals how breakdowns are not the kinds of objects we imagine. More than just material failures or social disruptions, since the 18th century, breakdowns served as moments for defining a modern technological self and the core values of s...