LAUSR

graphical coverage suggested by its title, Clive Dewey’s Steamboats on the Indus: The Limits of Western Technological Superiority in South Asia (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. Pp. 360. $130) is a book of importance not only for social scientists and engineers interested in the history of science and technology, but for scholars and practitioners engaged in the study of South Asia, Western colonialism, and cross-cultural transfers. From the first paragraphs it is clear this is a work that is the product of decades, perhaps a career, of meticulous and thoroughgoing research, primarily in often difficult-to-access (and make sense of) archival and primary sources in India, Pakistan, and Great Britain. At times the detail can be overwhelming, but Dewey writes well and laces his narrative with insightful observations and broader arguments that build to cogent critiques and correctives to prevalent interpretations regarding the impact of innovative technologies. He specifically focuses on dominant assumptions about the ways in which the advantages of industrialization made possible the rise of the West and its colonization of much of the rest of the world. The prodigious effort that went into Dewey’s magnum opus and the well-grounded, provocative arguments that his labors yield very likely account for the skills and expense that went into making what is a visually splendid book. The text is complemented by ample illustrations—from technical drawings to Anglo-Indian watercolors—that enable the reader to visualize the complex relationships between machines and boats and the often-insurmountable difficulties of navigating the many branches of the Indus River system.