Impossible Engineering: Technology and Territoriality on the Canal du Midi (Princeton Studies in Cultural Sociology)
Language: English
Published by Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ and Oxford, UK, 2009
Series: Book 42 of 44 - Princeton Studies in Cultural Sociology
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: Smith Family Bookstore Downtown, Eugene, OR, U.S.A.Smith Family Bookstore Downtown
AbeBooks seller since February 13, 2009
Condition: Used - Very good
£ 15.48
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
text clean and unmarked. binding tight. boards have very light wear. edges of pages have light wear. stamp on lower text block. dust jacket has light wear.
Seller Inventory # 5043751
- Title
- Impossible Engineering: Technology and Territoriality on the Canal du Midi (Princeton Studies in Cultural Sociology)
- Author
- Mukerji, Chandra
- Publisher
- Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ and Oxford, UK
- Publication year
- 2009
- Condition
- Very Good
- Dust jacket
- Very Good
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0691140324
- ISBN 13
- 9780691140322
- Series
- Book 42 of 44: Princeton Studies in Cultural Sociology
The Canal du Midi, which threads through southwestern France and links the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, was an astonishing feat of seventeenth-century engineering--in fact, it was technically impossible according to the standards of its day. Impossible Engineering takes an insightful and entertaining look at the mystery of its success as well as the canal's surprising political significance. The waterway was a marvel that connected modern state power to human control of nature just as surely as it linked the ocean to the sea.
The Canal du Midi is typically characterized as the achievement of Pierre-Paul Riquet, a tax farmer and entrepreneur for the canal. Yet Chandra Mukerji argues that it was a product of collective intelligence, depending on peasant women and artisans--unrecognized heirs to Roman traditions of engineering--who came to labor on the waterway in collaboration with military and academic supervisors. Ironically, while Louis XIV and his treasury minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert used propaganda to present France as a new Rome, the Canal du Midi was being constructed with unrecognized classical methods. Still, the result was politically potent. As Mukerji shows, the project took land and power from local nobles, using water itself as a silent agent of the state to disrupt traditions of local life that had served regional elites.
Impossible Engineering opens a surprising window into the world of seventeenth-century France and illuminates a singular work of engineering undertaken to empower the state through technical conquest of nature.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Smith Family Bookstore Downtown
Eugene, OR, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since February 13, 2009
Shipping rates within U.S.A.
| Item | 5 to 14 business days | 3 to 6 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 4.47 | £ 15.74 |
Payment methods
Store description
Over 500,000 quality used, rare, and out-of-print books and magazines.
Specialty
Self-Help, How-to, Literature, History, Sciences, Social Sciences, Religion, LanguagesSeller's business information
Smith Family Bookstore Downtown, Inc.
525 Willamette Street
Eugene, OR U.S.A. 97401
Terms of sale
We guarantee the condition of every book as it's described on the Abebooks web sites. If the book is not as not as described or damaged) or if the order hasn't arrived, you're eligible for a refund within 30 days of the estimated delivery date. If you change your mind please use the Ask bookseller a question link to contact us about a return and we'll usually respond within 2 business days.
Smith Family Bookstore, Inc.
525 Willamette Street
Eugene OR 97401
sfbooks2@gmail.com
Tax ID 93-0813752
Authorized Representative: Dean Smith
Right of withdrawal
If you are a consumer you can withdraw from the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.
Information regarding the right of withdrawal
Statutory right to withdraw
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.
The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day on which you acquire, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you acquires, physical possession of the last good or the last lot or piece.
To exercise the right of withdrawal, electronically fill in and submit a clear statement on our website, under "My Purchases" in "My Account". We will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.
To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.
Effects of withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).
We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.
We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract.
We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.
We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back, or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.
You shall send back the goods or hand them over to Smith Family Bookstore Downtown, Eugene, Oregon, U.S.A., without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.
Exceptions to the right of withdrawal
The right of withdrawal does not apply to:
- The delivery of newspapers, journals or magazines with the exception of subscription contracts; and
- The supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g. on a CD or DVD) if you accepted when you placed your order that we could start to deliver it, and that you could not withdraw once delivery had started.
Shipping terms
Tracking information can be found under Item Details in Your Purchases. Books ship within one business day except weekends. ?There are no additional charges generally for oversized except for exceptionally large books. International shipping is based on standard flat-rate mailer costs. Extra postage will be required for oversized books.