Unpacking Analog Superpowers: How Naval Technology & Piracy Reshaped Global Power
Eileen Reinhard’s article, How a Stolen Secret Transformed Warfare and Changed the Global Balance of Power, introduces Analog Superpowers, a compelling new book by Rutgers University–Camden Associate Professor of History Katherine C. Epstein. Published by the University of Chicago Press, the book examines how the U.S. and British Navies’ piracy of a revolutionary British invention altered the balance of global power in the early 20th century. Epstein highlights the role of naval fire-control technology, developed by English inventors Arthur Pollen and Harold Isherwood, in advancing gunnery precision and shaping modern warfare.
Reinhard outlines how this technology, “which incorporated advanced analog computing,” was stolen under claims of national security, leading to legal conflicts that set lasting precedents for managing military technologies. Epstein’s research connects the history of analog computing with the rise of the national security state, “exploring tensions between intellectual property rights and governmental control.”
Through archival research and vivid storytelling, Epstein investigates how this history sheds light on broader political, legal, and technological dynamics, encouraging readers to reconsider “traditional narratives of power and innovation.“
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