Lifelines of Our Society (A Global History of Infrastructure)

ISBN: 9780262546386
List Price $40.00 Up to % OFF

FREE Ground Shipping in US

Expect Delivery in 4-10 weekdays

Brand New Books

Lock in your price today! Prices tomorrow are NOT GUARANTEED.
Total for copies: Save
$40.00
List Price
Your Price Per Book
Discount

Found a lower price on another site? Request a Price Match

Minimum Order: 25 copies per title

true
Select QTYQuantity:
Quantity
Price
Discount

Minimum Order $100 / 25 copies per title, no exceptions

Not ready to place your order?

Prices change daily. Order now!

Need A Quote?  Request a quote

$40.00
SKU:
9780262546386
Availability:
590
Minimum Purchase:
25 units
Bulk Pricing:
Buy in bulk and save

Minimum Order: 25 copies per title

true

Product Details

Author:
Dirk Van Laak, Paul N. Edwards, Erik Butler
Format:
Paperback
Pages:
332
Publisher:
MIT Press (August 1, 2023)
Language:
English
ISBN-13:
9780262546386
ISBN-10:
0262546388
Weight:
15.8oz
Dimensions:
6" x 9" x 0.74"
File:
RandomHouse-PRH_Book_Company_PRH_PRT_Onix_full_active_D20250706T180326_152409950-20250706.xml
Folder:
RandomHouse
List Price:
$40.00
Series:
Infrastructures
Case Pack:
32
As low as:
$20.00
Shipping Origin:
Crawfordsville, IN
Publisher Identifier:
P-RH
Discount Code:
A
Audience:
General/trade
Country of Origin:
United States
Pub Discount:
65
Imprint:
The MIT Press

Ordering Details

  • Product Availability: Typically, all books are in stock and ready to ship. If a title becomes unavailable unexpectedly, you will be contacted with 24 business hours.
  • Standard Shipping: FREE Shipping via ground transportation within the continental United States.
  • Estimated Delivery: Most orders deliver within 4-10 business days from order date (excluding weekends and holidays). Orders shipping to Alaska or Hawaii should allow a minimum of 3 weeks for delivery.
  • Rush Shipping: Deliver in 5 business days from order date (excluding weekends, holidays, HI & AK).
  • Important Note: Books ship from various warehouses and may receive multiple cartons to fill the complete order. Do not assume your order is shipping from Portland, OR.
  • Payment Terms: Visa, MC, Amex, PayPal, Purchase Orders and P-Cards can be used to purchase online. Check and wire-transfer payments are available offline through Customer Service



Overview

A comprehensive history and examination of global infrastructures and the outsized role they play in our lives.

Infrastructure is essential to defining how the public functions, yet there is little public knowledge regarding why and how it became today’s strongest global force over government and individual lives. Who should build and maintain infrastructures? How are they to be protected? And why are they all in such bad shape? In Lifelines of Our Society, Dirk van Laak offers broad audiences a history of global infrastructures—focused on Western societies, over the past two hundred years—that considers all their many paradoxes. He illustrates three aspects of infrastructure: their development, their influence on nation building and colonialism, and finally, how individuals internalize infrastructure and increasingly become not only its user but regulator.

Beginning with public works, infrastructure in the nineteenth century carried the hope that it would facilitate world peace. Van Laak shows how, instead, it transformed to promote consumerism’s individual freedoms and our notions of work, leisure, and fulfillment. Lifelines of Our Society reveals how today’s infrastructure is both a source and a reflection of concentrated power and economic growth, which takes the form of cities under permanent construction. Symbols of power, van Laak describes, come with vulnerability, and this book illustrates the dual nature of infrastructure’s potential to hold nostalgia and inspire fear, to ease movement and govern ideas, and to bring independence to the nuclear family and control governments of the Global South.

While major retailers like Amazon may carry Lifelines of Our Society (A Global History of Infrastructure), we specialize in bulk book sales and offer personalized service from our friendly, book-smart team based in Portland, Oregon. We’re proud to offer a Price Match Guarantee and a streamlined ordering experience from people who truly care.

We’re trusted by over 75,000 customers, many of whom return time and again. Want proof? Just check out our 25,000+ customer reviews—real feedback from people who love how we do business.

Prefer to talk to a real person? Our Book Specialists are here Monday–Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST and ready to help with your bulk order of Lifelines of Our Society (A Global History of Infrastructure).


Customer Reviews