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Redesigning Design
March 11, 2019I have been doing some “design thinking” (to use the currently fashionable term) which has led to an essay in New Geographies 09 (“Posthuman”) published out of the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2017. It picks up some of the themes in my 1993 essay “Cultural Origins and Environmental Implications of... more»50th Reunion: Personal and Collective History
May 28, 2016Next weekend I will be attending my 50th reunion at Wellesley College. Here (slightly edited) is what I wrote last fall for the Wellesley ’66 Class Reunion Book: Our personal biographies will be all over the map, but almost all of us share a collective biography, which goes something like this: Born at the end of three... more»Inside Out
February 20, 2016After long distraction, I have been catching up on movies, along with much else. Last week I got around to renting “Inside Out.” I was especially eager to see it because of rave reviews and also because it stole my title. Two years ago, when I had the honor of giving the da Vinci Prize Address before the Society of the History of... more»Farms and Chickens Meet Their Doom
April 12, 2015My brother and I are trying to sell 280 acres of mixed farm/forest land near Laurel, Delaware. This has been an education in the value, or lack of it, of some rural land these days. Chuck and I inherited this land from our mother upon her death in 2005. Her father, our grandfather, had been born and raised on Spring Garden Farm, only... more»
Author Archives: Rosalind Williams
Going [to] Google
Last week (Feb. 26, 2014) I had the pleasure and privilege of giving a talk at the Google office in Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts (streamed to other Google offices). I was introduced by Owen Williams (yes, he is a relation), … Continue reading
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The Wall Street Journal Confronts Human Empire
The Wall Street Journal Online took notice of The Triumph of Human Empire in a review by distinguished environmental historian J.R. McNeill (Jan. 9, 2014): http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303393804579308471737968440 McNeill points out how many of us enjoyed these writers’ works as children: “Millions … Continue reading
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A Book of the Year
That’s the judgment of The Economist. I am pleased that it lists The Triumph of Human Empire among the best writing of 2013 in its “science and technology” category, with this citation: “A magnificent attempt to recapture the sense, so … Continue reading
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Age of the Anthropocene or Human Empire?
One of the current terms for describing the contemporary world is “the Age of the Anthropocene,” meaning the” age of man” as a new geological age based on an unprecedented human ability to alter the planet. It is a useful … Continue reading
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Cold War, Hot Planet
Today, along with every American of my generation, I turned my lonely eyes to Dallas, then to Arlington National Cemetery, and then to the void. What went to the grave with Kennedy that is still missing a half century later? … Continue reading
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Radio Boston (NPR) interview
A conversation about the end of the world and why writers are the ones to go to for understanding why it is here
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A Rave Review
From The Telegraph in the UK: “A literary history of progress, change and watery utopias is one of the most fascinating books of the year, says Philip Hoare”: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/scienceandnaturebookreviews/10397703/The-Triumph-of-Human-Empire-by-Rosalind-Williams-review.html
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Brief summary of new book
Here is a quick but thoughtful summary of The Triumph of Human Empire, thanks to Peter Dizikes of MIT News.
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A very happy day
Why the big smile? For being awarded the da Vinci medal (more or less a lifetime achievement award) from the Society for the History of Technology (October 12, 2013).
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Introduction: A Podcast Conversation
Introduction: A Conversation with Leo Marx, Lucy Marx, Rosalind Williams Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts 17 April 2013 35 minutes Leo Marx’s seminal book The Machine in the Garden was published in 1964. (A 50th anniversary celebration will be held … Continue reading
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