Book Review: Science for Welfare and Warfare: Technology and State Initiative in Cold War Sweden, ed. Per Lundin, Niklas Stenlås, and Johan Gribbe January 25, 2012
Posted by Will Thomas in EWP Book Club.Tags: Gustav Holmberg, Hans Jörgensen, Jan Jörnmark, Johan Gribbe, Kristoffer Strandqvist, Maja Fjæstad, Mats Fridlund, Niklas Stenlås, Nina Wormbs, Per Högselius, Per Lundin, Sverker Sörlin, Thomas Jonter, Thomas Kaiserfeld, Tom Petersson, Ulla Rosén
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The following book review appears in Economic History Review 65 (2012): 398–399. © 2012 The Economic History Society.
Per Lundin, Niklas Stenlås, and Johan Gribbe, eds., Science for welfare and warfare: technology and state initiative in Cold War Sweden (Sagamore Beach, MA: Science History Publications, 2010. Pp. vi + 314. 3 figs. 26 illus. 6 plates. 1 tab. ISBN 9780881354256 Hbk. £60.95/$49.95)
In the 1950s a nation of seven million people possessed the world’s fourth-largest air force. This fact is a particularly remarkable manifestation of Sweden’s postwar status as a technological power disproportionate to its size. Given the importance ascribed to technology as means of improving nations’ competitiveness, the historical strategies of the Swedish state and industry should be of considerable interest. This volume provides a valuable service by presenting original research into some of these strategies. In doing so, it also builds on and references a substantial existing literature, much of which is only available in Swedish.
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