Telegraph Messenger Boys - Labor, Communication and Technology, 1850-1950 (Hardcover)

Telegraph Messenger Boys provides an entirely new perspective on the telegraph system, a communications network that revolutionized human perceptions of time and space. But the book's ramifications go far beyond just the telegraphy - it tells a broader story of human interaction with technology, and social and cultural changes brought about by this interaction. Downey argues that the telegraph network was not merely an electromechanical system; labour systems, like those of the telegraphers and the messengers, played integral roles within it. Telegraph companies presented messengers as the penultimate link within their networks: the boys were uniformed and drilled to work and behave in a machine-like manner. Through the boys' story, Downey also demonstrates that technological 'progress' is uneven: supposedly 'superior' technologies like the telephone did not kill off older ones; they often existed side by side for sustained periods of time, even complimenting each other.

General

Imprint:	Routledge
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	May 2002
First published:	2001
Authors:	Gregory J. Downey
Dimensions:	229 x 152 x 26mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	258
ISBN-13:	978-0-415-93108-3
Categories:	Books > Law > International law > General
LSN:	0-415-93108-8
Barcode:	9780415931083

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