cover image Future Imperfect

Future Imperfect

Howard P. Segal. University of Massachusetts Press, $24.95 (245pp) ISBN 978-0-87023-882-6

In this somewhat specialized inquiry into views of technology, Segal ( Technological Utopianism in American Culture ) begins by reexamining the traditional opposition of nature and technology; he explores what Leo Marx called the ``middle landscape''--the fusion of nature and civilization in response to industrialization--positing the suburbs as an example. He also examines the role of the automobile in negotiating that landscape. Then he analyzes the ambivalence towards technology expressed by the ``good old days'' display at the newly reopened Armington and Sims Machine Shop and Foundry (in Dearborn, Mich.), originally founded by Henry Ford. Looking at literature, he explores the technological vision of Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward ; the unusual women-only 1890 utopian novel Mizora by Mary E. Bradley Lane; and the anti-utopianism of Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano . The United States, suggests the author, retains a spirit of technological utopianism (as evidenced by the celebration of ``smart bombs'' and Patriot missiles in the Gulf War). He goes on to discuss the ironies of the current push for technological literacy; for example, the democratic rhetoric of its advocates does not match the idea's inherent elitism. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Jan.)