Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)
Teoksen The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects tekijä
Tietoja tekijästä
Lewis Mumford has been referred to as one of the twentieth century's most influential "public intellectuals." A thinker and writer who denied the narrowness of academic speciality, Mumford embraced a cultural analysis that integrated technology, the natural environment, the urban environment, the näytä lisää individual, and the community. Although he lacked a formal university degree, Mumford wrote more than 30 books and 1,000 essays and reviews, which established his "organic" analysis of modern culture. His work defined the interdisciplinary studies movement, especially American studies; urban studies and city planning; architectural history; history of technology; and, most important in the present context, the interaction of science, technology, and society. Mumford was the editor of Dial, the most distinguished literary magazine of its era, and in 1920 he served as editor of Sociological Review in London and was strongly influenced by Sir Patrick Geddes, the Scottish botanist, sociologist, and town planner. In 1923, Mumford became a charter member of the Regional Planning Association of America, an experimental group that studied city problems from a regional as well as an ecological point of view. Mumford's well-known principle of "organicism" (the exploration of a cultural complex, where values, technology, individual personality, and the objective environment complement each other and together could build a world of fulfillment and beauty) was discussed in all of his work, spanning a career of nearly 70 years. Mumford's first book, The Story of Utopias (1922), introduces reliance on history to understand the present as well as to plan for the future. His books on architectural history and his works in urban studies established Mumford's reputation as the leading American critic of architecture and city planning. Each book views and analyzes the city, or built environment, in the context of form, function, and purpose within the larger culture. Mumford's books are focused on technology's role in civilization, especially "the machine" and "megatechnics." As a result, they have provided formative direction and structure to science, technology, and society studies and have established Mumford's stature as one of the foremost social critics of the twentieth century. Mumford's most profound and important analysis of technology (and the work that most directly influenced interdisciplinary technology-society studies) is the two-volume The Myth of the Machine:Volume 1, Technics and Human Development (1967), and Volume 2, The Pentagon of Power (1970). It was written following World War II (during which Mumford lost his son) after the deployment of atomic weapons by Russia and the United States, and during the arms race. This major work reflects a noticeable reinterpretation of the role of technology and a deep pessimism regarding "megatechnics," a metaphor Mumford uses for intrusive, all-encompassing systems of control and oppressive order. He views the military-industrial complex (the most horrendous "megamachine") as destroyer of the emotive and organic aspects of life. Mumford argues against the loss of personal autonomy and the organic world by electricity-based computer systems. Mumford died on January 26, 1990. (Bowker Author Biography) näytä vähemmän
Sarjat
Tekijän teokset
Roots of Contemporary American Architecture: A Series of Thirty Seven Essays Dating from the Mid-Nineteenth Century to… (1950) 96 kappaletta
From The Ground Up: Observations On Contemporary Architecture, Housing, Highway Building, And Civic Design (1956) 80 kappaletta
Interpretations and forecasts: 1922-1972;: Studies in literature, history, biography, technics, and contemporary… (1973) 65 kappaletta
Man as interpreter 11 kappaletta
The letters of Lewis Mumford and Frederic J. Osborn: a transatlantic dialogue, 1938-70 (1971) 8 kappaletta
Architecture, (Reading with a purpose) 4 kappaletta
La megamáquina 2 kappaletta
Técnica y civilización Vol. I 2 kappaletta
Alternatives to the H-bomb 1 kappale
Authoritarian and Democratic Technics 1 kappale
Values for Survival Essays Addresses & 1 kappale
Técnica y civilización Vol. II 1 kappale
The Morals of Extermination 1 kappale
The Corruption of Liberalism 1 kappale
Thorstein Veblen 1 kappale
Associated Works
The Glorious American Essay: One Hundred Essays from Colonial Times to the Present (2020) — Avustaja — 83 kappaletta
Patrick Geddes in India — Johdanto — 1 kappale
Merkitty avainsanalla
Yleistieto
- Kanoninen nimi
- Mumford, Lewis
- Virallinen nimi
- Mumford, Lewis Charles
- Syntymäaika
- 1895-10-19
- Kuolinaika
- 1990-01-26
- Sukupuoli
- male
- Kansalaisuus
- USA
- Syntymäpaikka
- Flushing, New York, USA
- Kuolinpaikka
- Amenia, New York, USA
- Asuinpaikat
- Flushing, New York, USA
Amenia, New York, USA - Koulutus
- City College of New York
New School for Social Research
Stuyvesant High School (1912) - Ammatit
- historian
sociologist
literary critic
architectural critic - Suhteet
- Mumford, Sophia (wife)
- Organisaatiot
- United States Navy (WWI)
The New Yorker - Palkinnot ja kunnianosoitukset
- National Medal of Arts (1986)
Presidential Medal of Freedom (1964)
Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1975)
Prix mondial Cino Del Duca (1976)
Emerson-Thoreau Medal (1965)
Frank Jewett Mather Award (1963) (näytä kaikki 12)
National Book Award for Nonfiction (1962)
National Medal for Literature (1972)
American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature ∙ 1930)
Leonardo da Vinci Medal (1969)
American Philosophical Society (1941)
American Academy of Arts & Sciences (1947)
Jäseniä
Kirja-arvosteluja
Thoughtful, reflective early.account of role of technologies in cultural development. Included speculations on how societies evolve, which have fared less well in scholarly evaluations.
Stieglitz as receiver and medium of new cultural ideas in the USA regarding photography and modern art. An odd character, but influential in artistic circles of his generation.
The hour is late for saving the human race from the possibility of wanton extermination or biological degradation; we must plan with a human purpose springing from divine inspiration.
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He had some interesting ideas about designing spaces that are protected from motor vehicle traffic (pointing to Rotterdam as a good example), and "mixed neighborhoods, able to sustain more than one urban function and demanding far less vehicular transportation". He also had some ideas I didn't like, such as building small "New Towns" outside large cities to draw people away and avoid the need to build tall apartments in the big cities.
With a title like "The Highway and The City" I expected there to be more about transit, zoning, governance, and the like.… (lisätietoja)