Sarah Bridger is Assistant Professor of History at California Polytechnic State University.
Historian Sarah Bridger’s ambitious book Scientists at War rethinks
scientists’ role within the Cold War military establishment,
viewing it through an unusual lens: that of the 20th century’s
continually evolving ethical norms… Bridger has written a
stimulating account of the clash of worldviews that divided the
Manhattan Project generation from Vietnam-era scientists.
*American Scientist*
A vital and prize-worthy contribution to both the history of
American science and the development of the Cold War from the 1950s
through the 1980s…The breadth of Bridger’s narrative and analysis
helps to distinguish Scientists at War from similar studies of
American science in the Cold War…This is a landmark book in the
study of science, the state, and the Cold War that should be
required reading for anybody interested in these important
topics.
*American Historical Review*
One of our cherished fictions about science is that it constitutes
an intellectual activity somehow ‘above the fray’ of politics. In
her excellent book Scientists at War Sarah Bridger undermines this
idea. In wonderful detail, she explores the myriad ways that
scientists confronted their roles as political actors after World
War II.
*Journal of American History*
Sarah Bridger’s Scientists at War provides an inside look at the
moral and ethical quandaries that shook the U.S. scientific
community in the second half of the twentieth century… The most
rewarding parts of Scientists at War present fresher material on
lesser-known scientists and their fraught relationship with
Vietnam… Scientists at War is a book that delivers exactly what it
promises: a deep exploration of American scientists’ understanding
of their role in Cold War weapons research. Bridger’s faithfulness
to her actors’ terms has produced a thoughtful, sympathetic, and at
times, even moving, account of an ethically complicated time. It is
essential reading for anyone struggling to understand how experts
get caught up in ethical quagmires, and what happens when they
finally manage to extract themselves.
*H-Diplo*
I found the book immensely rewarding due to my own interests in the
topic, but I have no reservations in recommending it to others—not
least because Bridger writes very well… A rewarding book.
*Metascience*
This is a revealing, richly informed inside history, not just of
scientists in policymaking for war and defense after Hiroshima, but
of their increasing struggles in the eras of Vietnam and Star Wars
with the ethics of the ongoing drive for innovations in armaments.
An authoritative, compelling work.
*Daniel J. Kevles, author of The Physicists: The History of a
Scientific Community in Modern America*
This will be a landmark book, widely read and frequently consulted.
Bridger’s scientists emerge as flesh-and-blood actors facing
complex sets of constraints, and even as serious—if not always
sophisticated—political thinkers with strong feelings about
international relations and the ethics of weapons research.
*Andrew Jewett, author of Science, Democracy, and the American
University: From the Civil War to the Cold War*
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
