I began work on this project shortly after sending off the final manuscript of Divide and Prosper: The Heirs of I. G. Farben under Allied Authority, 1945–1951 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988) in November 1987. Because it was related to the first project, it seemed at the start a relatively straightforward task. As it turned out, things were not that simple, for concentrating on the political economy of technological change involved questions completely different from those animating my first study. It also involved using new and different documentary materials, some of which became available only as I was writing (or rewriting) this book. As I wrestled with these problems, I benefited from a number of conversations with Alan Beyerchen, whose ideas and work have influenced my own considerably. Working in Rensselaer's Department of Science and Technology Studies has also affected the final results of my research – my colleagues will no doubt recognize their influences.

I would like to thank various organizations for financial support for this undertaking. I received generous support to complete much of the research for this book from the Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies at the Freie Universität, Berlin, between May 1988 and August 1989. The Social Science Research Council administers the program, which is funded by the Stifitung Volkswagenwerk and the German Marshall Fund of the United States.