Adopted at over 250 colleges and universities in its First Edition, Inventing America broke new ground by integrating the cultural, social, and political dimensions of the American story around the unifying theme of innovation the pragmatic forward-looking direction of American history, the willingness of Americans to find new solutions in the face of challenge and change."

Daniel Kevles traces the study and practice of eugenics - the science of improving the human species by exploiting theories of heredity - from its inception in the late 19th century to its most recent manifestation within the field of genetic engineering. Dealing seriously and objectively with the development of human genetics as a scientific and medical discipline, it also contains stories of competition and conflict among scientists who have dominated the field.

This magnificent account of the coming of age of physics in America has been heralded as the best introduction to the history of science in the United States. Unsurpassed in its breadth and literary style, Kevles's account portrays the brilliant scientists who became a powerful force in bringing the world into a revolutionary new era.

The book ranges widely as it links these exciting developments to the social, cultural, and political changes that occurred from the post-Civil War years to the present. Throughout, Kevles keeps his eye on the central question of how an avowedly elitist enterprise grew and prospered in a democratic culture.

In this new edition, the author has brought the story up to date by providing an extensive, authoritative, and colorful account of the Superconducting Super Collider, from its origins in the international competition and intellectual needs of high-energy particle physics, through its establishment as a multibillion-dollar project, to its termination, in 1993, as a result of angry opposition within the American physics community and the Congress.

The human genome is the key to what makes us human. Composed of the many different genes found in our cells, it defines our possibilities and limitations as members of the species. The ultimate goal of the pioneering project outlined in this book is to map our genome in detail-an achievement that will revolutionize our understanding of human development and the expression of both our normal traits and our abnormal characteristics, such as disease. The Code of Codes is a collective exploration of the substance and possible consequences of this project in relation to ethics, law, and society as well as to science, technology, and medicine. The many debates on the Human Genome Project are prompted in part by its extraordinary cost, which has raised questions about whether it represents the invasion of biology by the kind of Big Science symbolized by high-energy accelerators. While addressing these matters, this book recognizes that far more than money is at stake. Its intent is not to advance naive paeans for the project but to stimulate thought about the serious issues-scientific, social, and ethical-that it provokes. The Code of Codes comprises incisive essays by stellar figures in a variety of fields, including James D. Watson and Walter Gilbert and the social analysts of science Dorothy Nelkin and Evelyn Fox Keller. An authoritative review of the scientific underpinnings of the project is provided by Horace Freeland Judson, author of the bestselling Eighth Day of Creation. The book's broad and balanced coverage and the expertise of its contributors make The Code of Codes the most comprehensive and compelling exploration available on this history-making project.

Adopted at over 250 colleges and universities in its First Edition, Inventing America broke new ground by integrating the cultural, social, and political dimensions of the American story around the unifying theme of innovation the pragmatic forward-looking direction of American history, the willingness of Americans to find new solutions in the face of challenge and change.