Technology and Culture

960 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE dustry. Central to the discussion is the question of the development of craft-based skills and the subsequent division of labor. This is skill­ fully and broadly related to the socioeconomic context. Proto-Industrialisation in Scandinavia makes an important contribu­ tion to the understanding of the development of the modern engi­ neering industry with respect to the question of technology transfer and locally developed technology. I would have liked some more de­ tailed comments on the evolution of the trades per se, but this is not a major drawback. As a whole, the authors have provided a good explanation of how modern engineering developed under some con­ ditions and not under others. However, in doing so, they had to go beyond the concept of proto-industrialization, broadening and open­ ing it. It is important to look both to the countryside and to the cities to find the prerequisites for “the industrial and technological revo­ lution.” Thus the book is an example of how a particular concept, unless used carefully and critically, can present severe obstacles to analyzing important processes in the history of technology. Hàkon With Andersen Dr. Andersen is senior research fellow in the history of technology in the Depart­ ment of History, University of 'Trondheim. He has done research and published on shipping, shipbuilding, and engineering technologies, early engineering education, and the development of information technologies and electronics in Norway. Sawpower: Making Lumber in the Sawmills of Novel Scotia. By Barbara R. Robertson. Halifax: Nova Scotia Museum and Nimbus Publishing, 1986. Pp. 244; illustrations, tables, notes, glossary, appendix, bib­ liography, index. $C 19.95 + $C.75 handling (paper). Adopting a casual, freewheeling style, Barbara Robertson has pro­ duced an attractive volume devoted to the “ . . . story of Nova Scotia sawmills” (p. 9). It is a publication of the Nova Scotia Museum where Robertson is employed as coordinator of traveling exhibits. Unlike other works devoted to lumbering history, Sawpower is pri­ marily a history of industrial technology. In wide-ranging treatments of waterpowered sawmills, steam-powered sawmills, and the trans­ portation of lumber, Robertson traces the tools, machines, and tech­ niques of Nova Scotia sawmilling back to their earliest use in that province and elsewhere. In a six-page treatment of the use of water turbines, for example, she examines the early experiments with “tub wheels” in 18th-century France, the invention of the outward dis­ charge turbine waterwheel there in 1827, and North American im­ provements, particularly those by James Leffel. The author’s extensive archival work has resulted in dozens of de­ tailed sketches of sawmills and lumbering operations in Nova Scotia. These intricate portraits add greatly to our understanding of saw­ technology and culture Book Reviews 961 milling there, and, along with the many photographs, leave the reader with a vivid picture of mill operations. As attractive as this work is in layout and illustration, the text tends to disappoint. At the heart of the matter is the lack of a central theme or argument to give meaning to the wealth of detail presented. As the author describes her initial intention, “I had no theories or precon­ ceptions, and I intended to let the evidence tell its own story” (p. 9). To a large extent she does just that. Despite the great detail, we are rarely favored with general comments, for example, on the nature of a typical mill in 1880. Further, there is little attempt to tie technical innovations in Nova Scotia sawmilling to Nova Scotia development as a whole or to sawmilling technology in other regional lumber industries. Robertson’s overriding interest in the history of technology has resulted in the exclusion of a number of important aspects of saw­ milling. These include the business and financial side (How profitable were the sawmills? What investment was required? How did the mills change as competition grew?) and the nature of the raw material (What woods were sawed? How did this mix change? How did this change influence the nature of milling and mill products?). Also, the nature of the workplace and the character of the work force are not treated, except in an interesting chapter devoted to the analysis...