Book Description

Artefacts is a book series in which the editors encourage authors to use objects as evidence for their studies of the history of science and technology. In Materializing the Military, with its focus on military technology, the results are innovative and provocative. Topics as diverse as fourteenth-century Burgundian artillery and twentieth-century US Army Air Corps sextants, uniforms for volunteers and prosthetics for the disabled, the material culture of warfare and the cultural implications of the material relics of warfare are all given new meaning through interpretation based on examining the objects themselves, as witnessed by the generous use of photographs of the artefacts. Also included is an essay on the specific problems of presenting military history through the use of objects in military collections, together with an annotated list of selected military, naval and air museums. Authors, who are from academic institutions and museums, bring a variety or perspectives to these writings from such disciplinary backgrounds as archaeology, museum studies, military history and the history of medicine, as well as the history of science and technology.This book will appeal to serious students of military history, to curators and others in all museums of the history of science and technology, as well as specifically military museums. Nevertheless, the level of writing and the subjects covered should also make it valuable to a range of amateur historians interested in these subjects.