High-technology workers of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries obviously employ networks to build innovative firms and transform industries. A century and a half before the modern information technology revolution, however, machinists in the eastern United States created the nation's first high technology industries. In metalworking industries such as iron foundries and steam engine works, locomotive works, general machine shops, textile machinery firms, firearms manufacturers, and machine tools, these resourceful workers pioneered the practice of dispersing technological expertise through communities of practice. In the first book to study this phenomenon since the 1916 classic, English and American Tool Builders, David R. Meyer freshly examines the development of skilled-labor exchange systems, showing how individual metalworking sectors grew and moved outward. He argues that the networked behavior of machinists within and across industries helps explain the rapid transformation of metalworking industries during the antebellum period, building a foundation for the sophisticated, mass production/consumer industries that figured so prominently in the later U.S. ec

Hong Kong has remained the global metropolis for Asia since its founding in the 1840s following the Opium Wars between Britain and China. David Meyer traces its vibrant history from the arrival of the foreign trading firms, when it was established as one of the leading Asian business centres, to its celebrated handover to China in 1997. Throughout this period, Hong Kong has been prominent as a pivotal meeting place of the Chinese and foreign social networks of capital and as such has been China's window on to the world economy, dominating other financial centers such as Singapore and Tokyo. Looking into the future, the author presents an optimistic view of Hong Kong in the twenty-first century, challenging those who predict its decline under Chinese rule. This accessible and broad-ranging look at the story of Hong Kong's success will interest anyone concerned with its past, present and future.

David Meyer traces Hong Kong's vibrant history from the arrival of the foreign trading firms in the 1840s to its celebrated handover to China in 1997. Throughout this period, Hong Kong has been a pivotal meeting place of the Chinese and foreign social networks of capital. The author offers an optimistic view of Hong Kong in the twenty-first century, challenging those who predict its decline under Chinese rule. The story of Hong Kong's success will interest anyone concerned with its past, present and future.