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Science is to a large extent dependent on the culture from which it rises,
the progress of technology even more transparently so. This is the thesis
expressed in a series of case studies edited by Hamilton Cravens, Alan Marcus
and David Katzman, all three American historians, in Technical Knowledge in
American Culture (University of Alabama Press, £17.95\$19.95, ISBN
0 8173 0793 1). Their goal is to make the study of science, medicine and
technology “more accessible to scholars trained in the humanities and social
sciences”. Airports, cattle feed and medical practice are among the topics
covered, but the style of the book does demand that scholarly attention.