Air-Conditioning America: Engineers and the Controlled Environment, 1900-1960 (Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology)

In this groundbreaking study, Gail Cooper shows that, from the outset, air conditioning has been the focus of conflict and controversy―well predating today's concerns about fluorocarbons and global warming. While a technical elite of designers, inventors, and corporate pioneers made a comprehensive plans for the new technology, their ideas were challenged by workers, consumers, government regulators, business competitors, and rival professionals.