America on Record

256 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE forces won the war, and control of public transit in Rhode Island remained the prerogative of the URC. This book is largely a study of Rhode Island’s labor and urban political history, but those who are interested in the social ramifica­ tions of technology will also find it a useful work. The specifics of instituting electric streetcars, their technological profiles, and ac­ companying infrastructural changes are not addressed; instead, elec­ trification is investigated as a political and social issue. Molloy does not break new ground in this area, but he does provide additional evidence to support the work of Sam BassWarner and KennethJackson . In particular, his chapter titled “The Trolley Habit” is a suc­ cinct, extremely thoughtful discussion regarding the effect of elec­ tric street railways upon the urbanization process in Rhode Island. It details the flurry of land speculation and swift suburban develop­ ment that coincided with the expansion of streetcar service, and the tremendous changes in the nature of streetcar work caused by tech­ nological advancement. Perhaps most informative is his understand­ ing of the development of heightened public expectations of and animosity toward transit interests during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the impact of these social perceptions upon the poli­ tics of transit. Trolley Wars is an insightful and clearly written volume. While it is not pathbreaking in scope, Molloy’s exhaustive research provides ample evidence to support his claim that the development of urban mass transportation in Rhode Island was indeed a continual battle for control of a city’s thoroughfares. Molloy is certainly sympathetic to the streetcar workers he investigates and, in a few instances, his perception of their actions appears to be a bit rosy. And it was dis­ tressing to see Kenneth Jackson cited in the text and index as “Henryjackson.” But these are quibbles about a solid historical vol­ ume. This book adds to our knowledge of streetcar workers, as well as our understanding ofthe politics and social effects ofpublic trans­ portation development in America. Michael O. Smith Mr. Smith is a doctoral candidate in urban history at the University of Michigan and reference archivist at the Walter Reuther Library, Wayne State University. His dissertation is a comparative study of urban development in Hamilton, Ontario, and Toledo, Ohio, 1890-1920. America on Record: A History ofRecorded Sound. By Andre Millard. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Pp. ix+413; illustrations, figures, notes, bibliography, index. $59.95 (hardcover); $17.95 (paper). Andre Millard’s America on Record offers a comprehensive survey of the recorded music industry in America, from its earliest days in TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 257 the workshop of Thomas Edison to the rise of the international me­ dia conglomerates who produce the music that we consume today. The comprehensiveness of Millard’s account constitutes both its strength and its weakness. Over the course of360 pages, the reader is introduced to the tech­ nological innovations of the late 19th century that made the record­ ing of sound possible; the development of industrial production of phonographs and records; the competition among large corpora­ tions; the innovations of sound film and radio and their relationship to the phonograph industry; the postwar achievement of “high fi­ delity” and its supersession by digital sound recording, and much more. Music styles—from jazz to swing to rock and rap—are con­ nected to technological and industrial developments, and transfor­ mations in media—from cylinder to disc to cassette to CD—are simi­ larly connected to corporate and consumer imperatives. By covering the industry from its origins to the present day, and by making connections to the larger context ofsociety and culture in America, Millard provides valuable information not found in other histories, such as Oliver Read and Walter Welch’s From, Tin Foil to Stereo: Evolution of the Phonograph (Indianapolis: Howard W. Sams, 1959) and Roland Gelatt’s The Fabulous Phonograph, 1877-1977 (New York: Macmillan, 1977). But in this effort to provide “a con­ cise narrative which covers the significant events and explains the relationship” between sound recording technology and its “cultural effects” (p. vii), it is the quest for coverage rather than curiosity

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