Shaky Foundations: The Politics-Patronage-Social Science Nexus in Cold War America

“Solovey’s social scientists are neither naïve researchers exploited by the military—industrial complex nor greedy masterminds eagerly anticipating their patrons’ needs. Instead, he presents us with a series of encounters between program managers, disciplinary spokesmen, and political partisans, each of which demonstrates its participants’ unexpectedly complex positions. In what feels like a prelude to contemporary partisan investigations of the social sciences, Shaky Foundations recounts n...