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In
Sputnik's Shadow
Price: $49.95
Subtitle:
The President's
Science Advisory Committee and Cold War America
Author:
Zuoyue Wang
Subject:
Science,
Technology,
History
Paper
ISBN 978-0-8135-4331-4
Pages:
488 pages, 4
illustrations
Publication Date:
July 2008
View
the Table of Contents
Praise
for In Sputnik's Shadow
"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
"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
"Valuable for students and teachers in the sciences,
government, and history. Highly recommended."-Choice
"Wang provides
the scientific community and policy makers with a most timely reminder
of the positive roles that scientists can play in an open
society. We can only hope that Barack Obama will turn a page and
not let ideology, personal beliefs, or party politics interfere with
his seeking of sound science advisement. In Sputnik's Shadow
offers a history that both policy-makers and scientists should heed
well."-Science
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.
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Price: $49.95
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