Inventing accuracy: (Record no. 6650)

MARC details
000 -LEADER
fixed length control field 02554cam a2200157 4500
020 ## - INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BOOK NUMBER
International Standard Book Number 0262631474 (pbk.)
100 #1 - MAIN ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name MACKENZIE Donald
245 #0 - TITLE STATEMENT
Title Inventing accuracy:
Remainder of title a historical sociology of nuclear missile guidance
260 ## - PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC.
Place of publication, distribution, etc. Cambridge, Mass:
Name of publisher, distributor, etc. MIT Press,
Date of publication, distribution, etc. 1993
300 ## - PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Extent 464p.
440 ## - SERIES STATEMENT/ADDED ENTRY--TITLE
Title Inside technology
520 ## - SUMMARY, ETC.
Summary, etc. Among books on the arms race, Donald MacKenzie's stands out for its welcome demystification of the "black box" of nuclear weapons technology. MacKenzie follows one line of technology - strategic ballistic missile guidance - through a succession of weapons systems to reveal the ordinary workings of a world that is neither awesome nor unstoppable. He uncovers the parameters, the pressures, and the politics that make up the complex social construction of an equally complex technology.MacKenzie argues that it is wrong to assume that missile accuracy (or any other technological artifact) is a natural or inevitable consequence of technological change. By fostering an understanding of how the idea of accuracy was constructed and by uncovering the comprehensible and often mundane processes that have given rise to a frightening nuclear arsenal, he shows that there can be useful and informed intervention in the social processes of weapons construction. He also shows in what sense it is possible, contrary to the common wisdom, to "uninvent" technologies.Examining the technological politics of the transition from bomber to ballistic missile, MacKenzie describes the processes that transformed both air force and navy ballistic missiles from moderately accurate countercity weapons to highly accurate counterforce ones. He concludes that neither the United States nor the Soviet Union has ever accepted the idea of deterrence as the public understands it.Inventing Accuracy is based on 140 interviews with guidance and navigation technologists, navy and air force military officers, and defense officials Robert McNamara, James Schlesinger, McGeorge Bundy, and John Foster. It brings to light the confluence of forces, both physical and social, that gave rise to a selfcontained system of missile navigation, and it discusses the major U.S. groups involved in the early development of inertial guidance and navigation.Donald MacKenzie has published a number of influential articles on statistics, eugenics, and missile technologies. He is Reader in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh.
650 ## - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--TOPICAL TERM
Topical term or geographic name entry element NUCLEAR WEAPONS TECHNOLOGY
Geographic subdivision USA
-- SOVIET UNION
650 ## - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--TOPICAL TERM
Topical term or geographic name entry element MISSILE NAVIGATION
945 ## - LOCAL PROCESSING INFORMATION (OCLC)
i 0002520
r Y
s Y
Holdings
Withdrawn status Lost status Source of classification or shelving scheme Damaged status Not for loan Home library Current library Shelving location Date acquired Total checkouts Full call number Barcode Date last seen Copy number Price effective from Koha item type
    Dewey Decimal Classification     Mindef Library & Info Centre Mindef Library & Info Centre On-Shelf 03/03/1998 1 358.174 MAC 0002520 06/07/2022 1 03/01/2024 Book