Description: This volume in the highly respected Cambridge History of Science series is devoted to exploring the history of modern science using national, transnational, and global frames of reference. Organized by topic and culture, its essays by distinguished scholars offer the most comprehensive and up-to-date nondisciplinary history of modern science currently available. Essays are grouped together in separate sections that represent larger regions: Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, East and Southeast Asia, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, and Latin America. Each of these regional groupings ends with a separate essay reflecting on the analysis in the preceding chapters. Intended to provide a balanced and inclusive treatment of the modern world, contributors analyze the history of science not only in local, national, and regional contexts but also with respect to the circulation of knowledge, tools, methods, people, and artifacts across national borders.
Brief description: David N. Livingstone is Professor of Geography and Intellectual History at Queen's University Belfast and a Fellow of the British Academy. He is the author of a number of books including Nathaniel Southgate Shaler and the Culture of American Science (1987), Darwin's Forgotten Defenders (1984), The Geographical Tradition (1992), Putting Science in its Place (2003), Adam's Ancestors (2008), and Dealing with Darwin (2006).
Review Quotes: 'What makes this a unique survey of the history of science in the modern world is that each regional survey concludes with a careful critique by a noted specialist of what the other specialists have written, adding balance and helping readers to further appreciate the complexities of the rich material presented here ... Highly recommended.' J. W. Dauben, Choice