Technology and Culture

1082 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE The authors’ backgrounds allow them to address both technical and sociopolitical issues with authority (Merton Davies is an engineer and mathematician, and William Harris is an international lawyer). Some of the book’s flaws—it is overly given to generalizations and not well organized—are, perhaps, not the fault of the authors but rather the re­ sult of the protracted security review process to which the manuscript was subjected. The authors can be faulted, however, for occasionally neglecting to make use of public information that provides insight into the way RAND was linked to other government and nongovernment organizations. As one example, the authors describe the origins of RAND but fail to point out that H. Rowan Gaither, president ofthe Ford Foundation, became a founder and director of RAND when it was in­ corporated in 1948 with an interest-free loan from the Ford Founda­ tion. Gaither later chaired the presidentially appointed Security Re­ sources Panel. Information of this type is important for understanding RAND’s influence on U.S. space technology because RAND produced concepts, not hardware, and the extent to which its research findings were implemented by other organizations as operational systems de­ pended on effective linkages to policymakers. (Such linkages are being addressed by the Smithsonian-RAND History Project at the Depart­ ment of Space History, National Air and Space Museum. The project aims to produce analytical historical studies of RAND and to organize and preserve the primary sources on which they are based.) Neverthe­ less, such shortcomings are more than offset by the excellent descrip­ tions of RAND’s technical research, which make this book, at present, the single most informative source for scholars interested in RAND’s role in the origins of U.S. satellite and balloon-borne surveillance tech­ nology. Charles A. Ziegler Dr. Ziegler, a lecturer in social anthropology at Brandeis University, holds advanced degrees in both anthropology and physics and has a special interest in the relationship between technology and other elements of culture. Recent publications include a study of the development of covert nuclear surveillance systems, “Waiting for Joe-1: Decisions Leading to the Detection of Russia’s First Atomic Bomb Test” (Social Studies of Science 18 [1988]: 197-229). Technology and Politics. Edited by Michael E. Kraft and Norman J. Vig. Durham; N.C.: Duke University Press, 1988. Pp. xv + 356; figures, notes, index. $59.75 (cloth); $17.95 (paper). The thirteen contributions to this volume range widely in analytical penetration and historical awareness. Most are light on both—not inappropriate if the collection is intended for the classroom (the editors do not make this clear). Three of the chapters have appeared elsewhere, and several others summarize past or ongoing work. Thus, TECHNOLOGY AND CUL TURE Book Reviews 1083 it seems appropriate to view the book as an introduction aimed at college students. As such, I have two criticisms. The first may seem trivial but will help convey the character of the volume as a whole: most of the chapters deal with policy analysis more than politics. That is, they discuss issues involving technologyin a ratherabstractsense, with little attemptto con­ vey the manner in which the political process shapes government de­ cision making and policy itself. The exceptions make for the more sat­ isfying chapters: W. Henry Lambright and Dianne Rahm on presidential involvement in big decisions (Star Wars, the breeder reac­ tor); Allan Mazur, with a concrete and quantitative look at media in­ fluence on public perceptions and governmentactions concerningLove Canal and nuclear power. But other selections are burdened with some­ times arid discussions of topics like environmental regulation and risk analysis (and even the “science court”), while failing to dig very deeply into the ways in which interest groups use and misuse the apparatus and tools in question. Nor do many of the chapters give a sense of in­ teragencyconflicts, the ways in which policy is setat high levels in cabinet councils, or deals struck between Congress and the executive branch; to the extent that politics is the art ofcompromise, few of the selections deal with politics. By and large—and let me emphasize that there are exceptions—this book conveys a...