In Sputnik's shadow : the President's Science Advisory Committee and Cold War America / Zuoyue Wang

Object Details

Author

Wang, Zuoyue 1963-

Subject

United States President's Science Advisory Committee

Reprinted in paperback 2009.

Contents

American public science, 1863-1945 -- The origins of technological skepticism, 1945-1950 -- Mobilizing science for the Korean War under Truman, 1950-1952 -- Science and the national security state under Eisenhower, 1952-1957 -- Eisenhower, Sputnik, and the creation of PSAC, 1957 -- PSAC and the launching of NASA, 1957-1960 -- Military technology, 1957-1960 -- The search for a nuclear test ban, 1957-1960 -- The politics of big science, 1957-1960 -- The control of science policy under Eisenhower, 1957-1960 -- Science at the new frontier under Kennedy, 1960-1963 -- Responding to Rachel Carson's Silent spring, 1962-1963 -- Testing the limits, 1961-1963 -- "Scientists for Johnson," 1964 -- PSAC, the Vietnam War, and the ABM debate, 1964-1968 -- The politics of technological dissent under Nixon, 1969-1973

Summary

"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 Present's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) from its ascendency under Eisenhower in the wake of the Soviet launching of Sputnik to its demise during the Nixon years." "In this book, 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 policy-making evolved over time. Bringing new insights to the intellectual, social, and cultural histories of the era, this book not only depicts the drama of the Cold War American science, it gives perspective to how we think about technological advancements today."--BOOK JACKET.

2008

©2008

20th century

1953-1961

Type

Books

History

Physical description

xix, 454 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place

United States

Smithsonian Libraries

Topic

Science and state--History

Sputnik satellites

Cold War

Politics and government

Record ID

siris_sil_965728

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0