Science, Money, and Politics: Political Triumph and Ethical Erosion - Tapa dura

"Other professionals-physicians, lawyers, and teachers-long ago entered electoral politics, but scientists for the most part have stuck to their nineteenth-century detachment. To compensate for the lack of direct access to politics, they simply developed sharper and slyer tools to assure their future access to government money. "Science, Money, and Politics" is a gripping, sometimes amusing, and often provocative "tour de force" discussion of the ultimate consequences of their success." -- Michael S. Reidy "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" "Which science book should the next US president read? . . . . Daniel S. Greenberg is the outstanding writer on the politics of modern US science, and this is his most pertinent book."--Steven Shapin "Nature (2008) " "Although it builds on a vast foundation of first-hand journalistic knowledge, "Science, Money and Politics" transcends journalistic fact gathering and presents cogently argued themes to explain the history and present state of the 'science enterprise' in the United States. . . . The real strength of this study lies in its challenging and disturbing analyses, which constitute an indispensable primer for all serious debate on the future of the science enterprise in the United States."--Claude E. Barfield "New England Journal of Medicine " "Greenberg''s profoundly important new book depicts American ''Big Science'' as a classic self-perpetuating bureaucracy. . . . [It] is better documented than most National Academy of Sciences reports yet reads as briskly as a Dashiell Hammett detective story. . . . For four decades, Greenberg has been the conscience of American science writers. . . . We need more Greenbergs. . . . This admirable book should be required reading for science policy makers, science journalists, and any American who gives a damn whenever science"--"one of the nation''s crown jewels--falls into irresponsible hands."--Keay Davidson "Scientific American " "Greenberg''s book [is] the product of almost four decades of close observation of the Washington science scene by one of its most acute analysts and sharpest critics . . . Greenberg, a former news editor of "Science," for many years chronicled in his fortnightly newsletter, "Science and Government Report," the complex interaction between the scientific community and the political establishment. No one, therefore, is better placed to document how each has successfully managed to meet the needs of the other since the end of the Second World War. . . . Many scientists continue to believe that science''s generous support from the federal government is based primarily on the innate value of its potential contribution to social well-being. Greenberg''s analysis of such events may well cause them to reconsider their view of how decisions about science funding are taken in practice. . . . [A] unique and revealing perspective on the way that the science-funding process actually works in Washin Greenberg's "Science, Money, and Politics"provides a more sweeping survey of the disorder that afflicts contemporary science. . . Greenberg's irreverence has always offered a square meal for those woozy from the puffery and piety served up by most science journalists. The present book doesn't disappoint; Greenberg is especially adept at capturing folly and hypocrisy with memorable phrases."--Jonathan Kimmelman "The Nation " "Other professionals--physicians, lawyers, and teachers--long ago entered electoral politics, but scientists for the most part have stuck to their nineteenth-century detachment. To compensate for the lack of direct access to politics, they simply developed sharper and slyer tools to assure their future access to government money. "Science, Money, and Politics" is a gripping, sometimes amusing, and often provocative "tour de force" discussion of the ultimate consequences of their success."--Michael S. Reidy "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists " "[Greenberg] is snidely contemptuous of the politicos of science, indicting them, often with good reason, for hypocrisy, misrepresentation, and unwarranted doomsaying. This is on the whole an informative and provocative book. It includes riveting material from Greenberg's conversations with Washington insiders . . . and it advances several arresting themes about the interplay among the subjects of its title."--Daniel J. Kevles "The New Republic " "Greenberg . . . does not require of us the careful construction of an ideal, but assuming, quite correctly, that we all know corruption and self-interest when we see them in their most egregious manifestations, tells it like it is."--Richard Lewontin "New York Review of Books " "In the case of Daniel Greenberg, who has been the gadfly of the U.S. scientific establishment for four decades, stimulation and provocation have often been leavened by wit and always motivated by sharp intelligence. Greenberg has made a career of puncturing the self-important puffery that sometimes passes for public discourse in this community. . . . [In this book] the gadfly delivers a stinging three-count indictment of the contemporary scientific community and adduces a large body of evidence to support it."--Issues in Science and Technology "Issues in Science and Technology " "[H]eroically researched . . . Were the politics of science as important as the altitude of Presidential trousers, Greenberg would certainly be acknowledged as one of the greatest American investigative journalists of the last half-century. . . . [Greenberg's] "The Politics of Pure Science", published in 1967, was, like "Science, Money and Politics", a lively journalistic book which argued that the politics of science was just like any other kind of politics. Such differences as there were arose from the fact that scientists weren't very good politicians, and the vital role of science and technology in modern American life meant that, for many purposes, they didn't have to be. More vividly written and polemically argued than Greenberg's earlier book, "Science, Money and Politics" brings the story up to date."--Steven Shapin "London Review of Books " Although it builds on a vast foundation of first-hand journalistic knowledge, "Science, Money and Politics" transcends journalistic fact gathering and presents cogently argued themes to explain the history and present state of the science enterprise in the United States. . . . The real strength of this study lies in its challenging and disturbing analyses, which constitute an indispensable primer for all serious debate on the future of the science enterprise in the United States."--Claude E. Barfield "New England Journal of Medicine "" "Greenberg's profoundly important new book depicts American 'Big Science' as a classic self-perpetuating bureaucracy. . . . [It] is better documented than most National Academy of Sciences reports yet reads as briskly as a Dashiell Hammett detective story. . . . For four decades, Greenberg has been the conscience of American science writers. . . . We need more Greenbergs. . . . This admirable book should be required reading for science policy makers, science journalists, and any American who gives a damn whenever science" "one of the nation's crown jewels falls into irresponsible hands."--Keay Davidson "Scientific American "" [H]eroically researched . . . Were the politics of science as important as the altitude of Presidential trousers, Greenberg would certainly be acknowledged as one of the greatest American investigative journalists of the last half-century. . . . [Greenberg s] "The Politics of Pure Science," published in 1967, was, like "Science, Money and Politics," a lively journalistic book which argued that the politics of science was just like any other kind of politics. Such differences as there were arose from the fact that scientists weren't very good politicians, and the vital role of science and technology in modern American life meant that, for many purposes, they didn't have to be. More vividly written and polemically argued than Greenberg's earlier book, "Science, Money and Politics" brings the story up to date."--Steven Shapin "London Review of Books "" Greenberg . . . does not require of us the careful construction of an ideal, but assuming, quite correctly, that we all know corruption and self-interest when we see them in their most egregious manifestations, tells it like it is. --Richard Lewontin "New York Review of Books "" [Greenberg] is snidely contemptuous of the politicos of science, indicting them, often with good reason, for hypocrisy, misrepresentation, and unwarranted doomsaying. This is on the whole an informative and provocative book. It includes riveting material from Greenberg s conversations with Washington insiders . . . and it advances several arresting themes about the interplay among the subjects of its title. --Daniel J. Kevles "The New Republic "" In the case of Daniel Greenberg, who has been the gadfly of the U.S. scientific establishment for four decades, stimulation and provocation have often been leavened by wit and always motivated by sharp intelligence. Greenberg has made a career of puncturing the self-important puffery that sometimes passes for public discourse in this community. . . . [In this book] the gadfly delivers a stinging three-count indictment of the contemporary scientific community and adduces a large body of evidence to support it. --Issues in Science and Technology "Issues in Science and Technology "" Other professionals physicians, lawyers, and teachers long ago entered electoral politics, but scientists for the most part have stuck to their nineteenth-century detachment. To compensate for the lack of direct access to politics, they simply developed sharper and slyer tools to assure their future access to government money. "Science, Money, and Politics" is a gripping, sometimes amusing, and often provocative "tour de force" discussion of the ultimate consequences of their success. --Michael S. Reidy "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists "" Greenberg s "Science, Money, and Politics"provides a more sweeping survey of the disorder that afflicts contemporary science. . . Greenberg s irreverence has always offered a square meal for those woozy from the puffery and piety served up by most science journalists. The present book doesn t disappoint; Greenberg is especially adept at capturing folly and hypocrisy with memorable phrases. --Jonathan Kimmelman "The Nation "" "Greenberg has constructed a tour de force exploration of the world of science policy and politics over the pasty forty years, with pleasant forays into the worlds of big science, university research shops, government labs, scientific societies, and granting agencies. . . . [Greenberg] stands without peer as the outside science observer in Washington, and brings to his work both a fine appreciation for the work of scientists and the possible abuses of a system which funnels over $15 billion per year into basic research. . . . This is a superb book, and should interest scholars and laypersons alike interested in how the scientific enterprise has become what it is over the past fifty years. --Journal of the History of Medicine "Journal of the History of Medicine "" [A] unique and indispensable guide to the nether regions of the federally funded research enterprise in the United States. . . . [C]ertainly part of Greenberg's cantankerous intent is to expose the all-too-human motives and behavior of a community that often rests its demands for public support on the claim of special privilege. But this is not the whole story that he wants to tell. He also believes that the scientific community's ongoing infatuation with money has led to a progressive withdrawal from important political issues. --Daniel Sarewitz "Science "" Greenberg's book [is] the product of almost four decades of close observation of the Washington science scene by one of its most acute analysts and sharpest critics . . . Greenberg, a former news editor of "Science," for many years chronicled in his fortnightly newsletter, "Science and Government Report," the complex interaction between the scientific community and the political establishment. No one, therefore, is better placed to document how each has successfully managed to meet the needs of the other since the end of the Second World War. . . . Many scientists continue to believe that science's generous support from the federal government is based primarily on the innate value of its potential contribution to social well-being. Greenberg's analysis of such events may well cause them to reconsider their view of how decisions about science funding are taken in practice. . . . [A] unique and revealing perspective on the way that the science-funding process actually works in Washington. The picture it paints is not a flattering one. But unlike many of those he writes about Greenberg is not out to make friends in high places. David Dickson, "Nature" --David Dickson "Nature "" "[A] unique and indispensable guide to the nether regions of the federally funded research enterprise in the United States. . . . [C]ertainly part of Greenberg's cantankerous intent is to expose the all-too-human motives and behavior of a community that often rests its demands for public support on the claim of special privilege. But this is not the whole story that he wants to tell. He also believes that the scientific community's ongoing infatuation with money has led to a progressive withdrawal from important political issues."--Daniel Sarewitz "Science " "Greenberg's book [is] the product of almost four decades of close observation of the Washington science scene by one of its most acute analysts and sharpest critics . . . Greenberg, a former news editor of "Science", for many years chronicled in his fortnightly newsletter, "Science and Government Report", the complex interaction between the scientific community and the political establishment. No one, therefore, is better placed to document how each has successfully managed to meet the needs of the other since the end of the Second World War. . . . Many scientists continue to believe that science's generous support from the federal government is based primarily on the innate value of its potential contribution to social well-being. Greenberg's analysis of such events may well cause them to reconsider their view of how decisions about science funding are taken in practice. . . . [A] unique and revealing perspective on the way that the science-funding process actually works in Washington. The picture it paints is not a flattering one. But -- unlike many of those he writes about --Greenberg is not out to make friends in high places."-- David Dickson, "Nature" --David Dickson "Nature "

Each year, Congress appropriates billions of dollars for scientific research. Each year, scientists complain of insufficient funding and lobby (usually unsuccessfully) for more money. This book explores who recieves the money, and the tactics they use to get it. From the end of World War II to 2001, and from medical research to particle physics, Daniel S. Greenberg reveals the little-known but all-pervasive links among science, money, and politics in the United States. He draws on archival research and interviews with presidential science advisers, congressional and White House staffers, and elected officials. The book reveals: the exaggerated claims of disease cures; how politicians supportive of medical research are rewarded with buildings named for them at the National Institutes of Health; why Ronald Reagan's science advisers remained silent, even though they knew that false claims were being made for a scientific breakthrough in the Star Wars missile-defence programme; and how, even as research lagged in the expiring USSR, leading American scientists warned Congress of Soviet scientific superiority - and the need for increased US funding to counter it. This work aims to blow the whistle on the scientists, politicians, and government officials who sacrifice ethics - and science itself - for money.