Beyond Amelia Earhart

From the railroad to the atom bomb to the iPad, new technologies in the United States have repeatedly captured public attention. Historians of technology write about the novelty of such innovations in speed, power, and visual brilliance. But they also seek to understand how such inventions both reflect and affect the broader context of their particular time and place. Technology is not just about dazzling machines. It always needs to be understood in relationship to the human element—the shape of our culture and everyday life. Societal conceptions of proper gender roles, for instance, have inevitably played a large role in the history of American technology. From the earliest appearance of automobiles—one of the stunning new technologies of the early twentieth century—critics joked about women's incompetence behind the wheel. Serious observers considered it inappropriate for supposedly weak, nervous women to try handling internal- combustion engines. (As the sidebar on p. 42 tells us, marketers promoted electric cars as more acceptable for female drivers.)

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• Queen Bess

  Wanda A Hendricks, Doris L Rich•Journal of American History•1995

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