Author: Daniel L. Wuebben File Type: pdf The proliferation of electric communication and power networks have drawn wires through American landscapes like vines through untended gardens since 1844. But these wire networks are more than merely the tools and infrastructure required to send electric messages and power between distinct places the iconic lines themselves send powerful messages. The wiry webs above our heads and the towers rhythmically striding along the horizon symbolize the ambiguous effects of widespread industrialization and the shifting values of electricity and landscape in the American mind. In Power-Lined Daniel L. Wuebben weaves together personal narrative, historical research, cultural analysis, and social science toprovide a sweeping investigation of the varied influenceof overhead wires on the American landscape and the American mind. Wuebben shows that overhead wiresfrom Morses telegraph to our high-voltage gridnot only carry electricity between American places but also create electrified spaces that signify and complicate notions of technology, nature, progress, and, most recently, renewable energy infrastructure. Power-Lined exposes the subtle influences wrought by the wiring of the nation and shows that, even in this age of wireless devices, perceptions of overhead lines may bekey in progressing toward amore sustainable energy future.ReviewDaniel Wuebben invites the reader to gaze at the transmission lines crisscrossing our landscape and imagine not only the technology behind the infrastructure but also the politics and poetics of electrifying our country. With historical detail and carefully constructed analysis, Wuebben offers an engaging narrative that fills important gaps in our understanding of the power grid and its physical and cultural ramifications for the twenty-first century.Julie A. Cohn, author of The Grid Biography of an American Technology (Julie A. Cohn 2018-09-14) Daniel Wuebbens Power-Lined makes a valuable contribution to understanding the crucial place of technology in the relationship between people and the natural world.As he reveals in this measured study of electric power lines, the relationship between people and nature is always dynamic, interactive, complex, and messy.James C. Williams, author of Energy and the Making of Modern California (James C. Williams 2018-09-14) In this eloquent and engaging new book, Daniel Wuebben sheds light on a ubiquitous yet often-overlooked aspect of electrical development the power lines themselves. This capacious book incorporates the history of technology, literature and cinema studies, and art history in chronicling the history of our wired world, from the stringing of telegraph cables through the development of a smart grid. The result of his impressive attention to detail is a book that will enlighten any reader who is interested in technology, literature, and culture.Jennifer L. Lieberman, author of Power Lines Electricity in American Life and Letters, 18821952 (Jennifer L. Lieberman 2018-09-14) Power-Lined has the potential to link several fields of study history of technology, American studies, literature, design, and art history. This is an important subject, and the author tackles it quite well. . . . Its very readable and entertainingly written.David Hochfelder, author of The Telegraph in America, 18321920 (David Hochfelder 2018-09-14) About the Author Daniel L. Wuebben is an assistant professor in the Goodrich Scholarship Program at the University of Nebraska Omaha. He is a faculty member of the Office of Latino and Latin American Studies as well as the faculty organizer for the Nebraska Post-Secondary Prison Education Project.

Author: H. G. Wells File Type: pdf Mr. Hoopdriver is an overworked Londoner who spends most every day servilely waiting on customers at his job as a drapers assistant. When it comes time for his annual holiday, he decides to put his newfound skills on a bicycle to the test by going on a ten-day cycling trip to the southern coast of England. A routine trip is turned upside down, however, when Hoopdriver crosses paths with Jessie, a young lady fleeing the constraints of conventional Victorian womanhood. The two cyclists eventually join up and try to help each other find a brighter future. Written at the height of the late-19th century bicycle craze and rich in geographical detail of southern England, The Wheels of Chance is a captivating portrayal of two people attempting to break free of the dreary life society has carved out for them. The novel is also among Wellss funniest works. Using a copy text of the 1925 Atlantic edition of the novel, this edition includes a full introduction providing historical context on the novel and biographical information on Wells, a further reading list, detailed notes, a map of Hoopdrivers journey, a selection of contemporary reviews, and excerpts of letters by Wells relevant to the novel. The work has been specially prepared for student engagement and classroom use. The Wheels of Chance is both an early cycling classic and a picture of an era. In this long-overdue scholarly edition, Jeremy Withers provides an illuminating introduction to Wellss lively comedy.--Professor Patrick Parrinder, President, H. G. Wells Society ***Wellss engaging comic novel becomes even more enjoyable in this welcome new edition of The Wheels of Chance. Jeremy Withers scholarly introduction and notes set the novel thoughtfully into the context of the authors life and times, with particular reference to the bicycle boom of the 1890s, presenting readers with a host of insights that are bound to enhance appreciation of the book.--Michael Sherborne, author of the biography H. G. Wells Another Kind of Life [Subject Fiction, Literary Criticism, H.G. Wells, Victorian Studies, Gender Studies] **