Call for Contributors: INVENTING AMERICA

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTORS:  Inventing America: An Encyclopedia of Inventions, Inventors, and Technological Innovation in American History, forthcoming, ABC-CLIO (www.abc-clio.com)

Inventing America will survey the events and people behind the greatest ideas, innovations, and inventions in United States history. The subject areas included under the rubric of "technology" will include architecture, civil engineering, transportation, energy, extractive industries (mining and oil), chemical industries, electronics, computer and information technology, communications (television, radio, print), medicine, agriculture and food technology, and military technology.

The entries will enable the reader to understand how specific inventions, technological systems, individuals, and events influenced the history, cultural development, and even self-identity of the United States and its people. In turn, the entries will also demonstrate how American culture, government, and society influenced technological development.

Entries will range between 500-2500 words, depending on topic and coverage needed.

Sample list of entries still needed:

3D printer                                                                                       

Apple (company)                                                                            

artificial heart implanted                                                                   

ATT (American Telephone & Telegraph)                                            

bifocals                                

bomb disposal units/robots                                                              

Braille typewriter - Frank H. Hall                                                       

cast iron pot (1644) - Joseph Jencks                                                            

cellophane adhering tape (ScotchTape) (1930)                                   

Coca Cola                                                                    

du Pont Co. (company)                                                       

floppy disc              

Kentucky Long Rifle (1700s)                                                              

Maker Faire                                                                                    

Neoprene rubber                                                                             

polio vaccine                                                                                 

practical ocean navigation - Nathaniel Bowditch                                 

Tupperware                                                                                    

Xerox                                                                           

zipper                                                                                            

The above is just a sample list to show the representative coverage of the project. There are many more entries available on a variety of subjects and detailed style and submission guidelines will be provided for contributors.

I would like to find a group of committed authors who can take on multiple entries, though smaller individual entries will be assigned to interested parties as well. Contributors may choose between cash payment, credit toward ABC-CLIO book purchases, or copies of the published work, depending on total word count assigned. 

I am looking for author-contributors who can submit entries by a firm deadline of July 15, 2014. 

If you can meet this deadline and would like more details, including a complete updated list of entries for which authors are currently needed, contact editor Tiffany Wayne at tkwayne04@gmail.com, with your CV or a summary of your academic and/or publishing credentials. Graduate students are welcome to apply.   

Please forward this call to interested colleagues. Thank you and I look forward to working with you!

Tiffany K. Wayne, PhD

Independent scholar, historian, and author of numerous reference books and encyclopedias including American Women of Science since 1900 (ABC-CLIO, 2010).

www.womanwriting.com