Consumers, Tinkerers, Rebels The People Who Shaped Europe

"In this entertaining fusion of social and technological history, Ruth Oldenziel and Mikael Hård argue that much of Europe's contemporary culture was created from below after 1850, as active consumers tinkered with and appropriated both machines and processes to change the ways that they worked, traveled, communicated, dressed, and ate. Not politicians or generals but consumers have increasingly shaped the experiences that define what it means to be European." - David E. Nye, author of Technology Matters and America's Assembly Line

"From cycling to the internet, and from Magdeburg to Milan, this rich comparative study reveals how attention to users and the social construction of technology can illuminate the history of modern Europe" - Frank Trentmann, author of Consuming Cultures, Global Perspectives (with John Brewer)

"...an engaging, beautifully illustrated history of Europe's technological inventions, crafts, design, and gadgetry over the last two centuries, but especially of the peoples of Europe - as train riders, sewing machine operators, bicyclists, radio hobbyists, home-makers, hobbyists, and computer mavens. Wide in scope, profound in its questions about the multiplicity of European ways of living, it is also timely background for considering the impact on European technology and craft of global cyber-innovation and the new environment of global manufacturing." - Victoria de Grazia, Columbia University

 

"Consumers, Tinkerers, Rebels
is an impressive achievement. Prioritizing the humble and mundane material culture and positioning consumers and users as The People Who Shaped Europe is a bold and provocative move in a field where the master narratives at least have been dominated by great inventors and entrepreneurs, spectacular innovations and heavy technology. An equally important feature of the book, which is also deeply embedded in the Tensions of Europe network, is the remarkably

broad geographical coverage. Although both authors are North-West Europeans, they have accomplished an outstandingly balanced treatment of west versus east, north versus south and large versus small. Design historians would do well to consult Consumers, Tinkerers, Rebels, both as an example of how transnational history can be written, but also as proof of the potential relevance of design history to a broader academic community." - Journal of Design History