"Renate Mayntz, Professor and Director, Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, Köln Thomas P. Hughes, Professor, Dept, of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia"

• Foreword -- Large Technical Systems: Concepts and Issues -- The Emergence of an Early Large-Scale Technical System: The American Railroad Network -- The Evolution of the Technical System of Railways in France from 1832 to 19371 -- The Development of the German Railroad System -- Looking for the Boundaries of Technological Determinism: A Brief History of the U.S. Telephone System* -- The Telephone in France 1879–1979: National Characteristics and International Influences1 -- The Politics of Growth: The German Telephone System -- The United States Air Traffic System: Increasing Reliability in the Midst of Raped Growth1 -- The French Electrical Power System: An Inter-Country Comparison -- The Dynamics of System Development in a Comparative Perspective: Interactive Videotex in Germany, France and Britain