Who has decided how Europeans have dressed and dwelled? Traveled and dined? Worked and played? Who, in fact, can be credited with the shaping of Europe? Certainly, inventors, engineers, and politicians played their parts. But in the making of Europe, consumers, tinkers, and rebels were an unrecognized force - until now. In this book, historians Ruth Oldenziel and Mikael Hård spotlight the people who 'made' Europe by appropriating technology and protesting for and against it. Using examples from Britain and the Continent, the authors illustrate the conflicts that accompanied modern technologies, from the sewing machine to the bicycle, the Barbie doll to personal computers. What emerges is a fascinating portrait of how Europeans have lived, from the 1850s to the current century.