The Society for Useful Knowledge (39 page)

Tench Coxe by Jeremiah Paul, 1795. Tench Coxe, a fallen aristocrat and former Loyalist, narrowly avoided prosecution at the hands of the victorious patriots. He went on to carve out a career as a publicist and campaigner on behalf of a strong federal government and as America's leading advocate of the role of mechanized industry in the new republic.
© PHILADELPHIA HISTORY MUSEUM AT THE ATWATER KENT/COURTESY OF HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA COLLECTION/THE BRIDGEMAN ART LIBRARY

View from the terrace of Monsieur Franklin at Passy of the first fight under the direction of Monsieur de Montgolfer, November 21, 1783. Franklin witnessed the frst hydrogen balloon fight, in Paris in 1783, an event that fired his imagination to think of possible uses for this new technology. “This Experiment is by no means a trifling one,” he reported to the head of the Royal Society of London. “It may be attended with important Consequences that no one can foresee.”
BIBLIOTHÉQUE NATIONALE, PARIS, FRANCE/THE BRIDGEMAN ART LIBRARY

Jonathan Lyons is the author of
The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization
,
Islam Through Western Eyes: From the Crusades to the War on Terrorism
, and
Answering Only to God: Faith and Freedom in Twenty-First-Century Iran
(co-authored with Geneive Abdo). He served as editor and foreign correspondent for Reuters for more than twenty years. He holds a doctorate in sociology, and has taught at George Mason University, Georgetown University, and Monash University in Australia. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Islam Through Western Eyes: From the Crusades to the War on Terrorism

The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization

Answering Only to God: Faith and Freedom in Twenty-First-Century Iran
(co-authored with Geneive Abdo)

Copyright © 2013 by Jonathan Lyons

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

For information address Bloomsbury Press, 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018

Published by Bloomsbury Press, New York

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA HAS BEEN APPLIED FOR.

eISBN: 978-1-60819-571-8

First U.S. Edition 2013
This electronic edition published June 2013

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