The importance of the history of technology is seen when technology is understood not merely as technique but as part of a history of the culture and of the social and intellectual development of human civilisation. The papers, drawn from fundamental works as well as from articles and papers from journals, sum up the debate on the nature of the history of technology which evolved in French thought in our century. This anthology is among the most representative of studies in the field of the history of technology in France.

Sabyasachi Bhattacharya