Plastic: The Making of a Synthetic CenturyIn Plastic: The Making of a Synthetic Century, Stephen Fenichell takes a fresh, irreverent look at the substance we all love to hate. The book moves from the early astonishment at such inventions as celluloid film and waterproof clothing; to the nylon-stocking riots after World War II; to the revolutionary, yet practical, proliferation of Tupperware in the '50s. Fenichell's sweeping assessment of the social and economic revolutions brought on by plastic extends from the sublime to the absurd, the beautiful to the mundane, demonstrating how scientists, artists, politicians, and the buying public have all molded, and also been molded by, plastic. |
Contents
Protoplastic | 11 |
Celluloid Heroes | 37 |
The Bakelite Brigade | 79 |
Copyright | |
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acid acrylic aircraft American artist Baekeland Bakelite billiard balls bottle British called camphor Carothers Carothers's cellophane celluloid cellulose chemical chemist chemistry cloth coating collodion colors commercial Company compound Corfam Daniel Spill developed Dickson Don Featherstone Du Pont Eastman Edison equipment fabric Farben fashion fiber film forced Ford Formica French glass Goodyear heat Hyatt I.G. Farben industry invention ivory John Wesley Hyatt kinetoscope laboratory later leather Leo Baekeland Levine look Lumières machine manufacture material Meer million modern moistureproof molded molecules months natural Naugahyde Nazi nitrocellulose nylon stockings packaging pair Parkes Parkesine patent photographic plant plastic plates Plexiglas polyester polyethylene polymer Pont Pont's pounds production Putty radar radio rayon Rohm & Haas Saran sheet silk solvents Spill Stine synthetic rubber Teflon thing thousand tion took transparent Tupper Tupperware turned vinyl viscose waterproof Wattson-Watt wrapped York