The imagined empire: Balloon enlightenments in revolutionary Europe by Mi Gyung Kim (review)
Publication Type
Book Review
Publication Date
4-2019
Abstract
The Imagined Empire is a welcome addition to histories of early ballooning that have flourished in the past decade. Drawing from a rich theoretical toolbox, Kim ambitiously "aims at an archaeology of mass silence, a genealogy of the mass public, and a material geography of European Enlightenment to uncover how the flying machine—both imagined and real—stirred utopian visions and patriotic sentiments in revolutionary Europe" (p. 8). In doing so, she presents a survey of early European ascents, a dense analysis of the indeterminacy of scientific artifacts, and something that could cheekily be called the aerostatic origins of the French Revolution.
Keywords
ballooning, Enlightenment, French Revolution, public sphere, history of technology
Discipline
Political Science
Research Areas
Political Science
Publication
Technology and Culture
Volume
60
Issue
2
First Page
628
Last Page
630
ISSN
0040-165X
Identifier
10.1353/tech.2019.0049
Citation
1