Introduction Part I
Prelude: Before Sputnik
1 American Public Science, 1863-1945
2 The Origins of Technological Skepticism, 1945-1950
3 Mobilizing Science for the Korean War under Truman,
1950-1952
4 Science and the National Security State under
Eisenhower, 1952-1957 Part II
Ike, Sputnik, and the Rise of PSAC
5 Sputnik, Eisenhower, and the Creation of PSAC, 1957
6 PSAC and the Launching of NASA, 1957-1960
7 Military Technology, 1957-1960
8 The Search for a Nuclear Test Ban, 1958-1960
9 The Politics of Big Science, 1957-1960
10 The Control of Science Policy under Eisenhower,
1957-1960 Part III
The Politics of Technological Skepticism
First Paperback Edition Subtitle: The President's
Science Advisory Committee and Cold War America Author:
Zuoyue Wang Subject:Science Paper ISBN: 978-0-8135-4688-9 Pages:
464 pages Publication Date: August 2009
Praise:
"In
Sputnik's Shadow represents the most extensive and scholarly
effort to document the role of the science advisory system in its
difficult function of moderating scientific and technological excesses
while at the same time promoting public interest."-Wolfgang Panofsky,
founding director, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLA)
"A fascinating episode in the history of science and politics. No
one has done historical work even approaching this degree of
thoroughness on the topic of PSAC until Zuoyue Wang."-Naomi Oreskes,
author of the forthcoming book Science
on a Mission: American Oceanography in the Cold War and Beyond
Description:
In today's world of
rapid advancements in science and technology, we need to scrutinize
more than ever the historical forces that shape our perceptions of what
these new possibilities can and cannot do for social progress. In
Sputnik's Shadow provides a lens to do just that, by tracing the rise
and fall of the President's Science Advisory Committee from its
ascendance under Eisenhower in the wake of the Soviet launching of
Sputnik to its demise during the Nixon years. Members of this committee
shared a strong sense of technological skepticism; they were just as
inclined to advise the president about what technology couldn't do-for
national security, space exploration, arms control, and environmental
protection-as about what it could do.
Zuoyue Wang examines key turning points
during the twentieth century, including the beginning of the Cold War,
the debates over nuclear weapons, the Sputnik crisis in 1957, the
struggle over the Vietnam War, and the eventual end of the Cold War,
showing how the involvement of scientists in executive policymaking
evolved over time. Bringing new insights to the intellectual, social,
and cultural histories of the era, this book not only depicts the drama
of Cold War American science, it gives perspective to how we think
about technological advancements today.
About the Author:
Zuoyue Wang is a
professor of history at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
