Review of by Outrider

This historical study of how science and technology were portrayed by U.S. mass media and political leaders during the Cold War era documents the effects of this rhetoric on the American public.

"Science is a very important tool for examining the world and our place in it, but when we are blinded to its limitations, seeing it as an infallible system, we make a dangerous mistake—one that makes the practitioners of science corruptible and arrogant and the recipients of scientific advances complacent and vulnerable," the author explains.

There is no precedent in human history for the pace and extent of technological change that occurred on the American continent in the 20th century. A mere 66 years separated the first flight of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk to the Apollo 11 launch and moon landing. And, in the span of just a couple generations, Americans went from dueling with pistols to facing the real possibility of nuclear war and annihilation. Adjusting to and making sense of these changes challenged the American public like no others before and left it exposed to manipulators.

David Tietge, an English professor at Long Island University, shows how America's leaders consciously or unconsciously conflated the rhetoric of science and technology with the rhetorics of religion and patriotism to advance their own agendas.

Outrider