Addresses the relationships between what modern-day experts say to each other and to their constituencies 

Technical Knowledge in American Culture is an interdisciplinary volume that brings together leading historians to investigate how science, technology, and medicine have shaped—and been shaped by—American intellectual and cultural traditions since the early nineteenth century. Rather than treating science and technology simply as products of social forces, the contributors examine them as forms of knowledge with their own internal logics, debates, and authority structures. The book asks a central question: how do experts—scientists, engineers, physicians—communicate with one another and with broader audiences, and how does that communication influence American society?

The volume is organized into three major sections, each anchored in a distinct historical moment: Part I: The Rise of Democratic Culture, 1800–1870; Part II: The Age of Hierarchy, 1870–1920; and Part III: Toward an Infinity of Dimensions (20th Century). Across its essays, the book argues that technical knowledge is not just a tool of progress—it is a cultural force shaped by communication, interpretation, and authority. By focusing on case studies rather than sweeping narratives, the volume reveals how expertise operates in practice and how it influences broader debates about science, society, and public trust.

Hamilton Cravens is professor of history, Iowa State University. He is author of The Triumph of Evolution: The Nature-Nature Controversy, 1900–1941 and Before Head Start: The Iowa Station and America’s Children.

Alan I Marcus is professor of history and director of the Center for Historical Studies at Iowa State University. He is author of Agricultural Science and the Quest for Legitimacy: Farmers, Agricultural College and Experiment Stations, 1870–1890 and Technology in America: A Brief History.

David M. Katzman is professor of American Studies and of history at the University of Kansas. He is author of Before the Ghetto: Black Detroit in the Nineteenth Century and Seven Days a Week: Women and Domestic Service in Industrializing America.
 

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction. Technical Knowledge in American Culture: An Analysis

PART ONE: THE RISE OF DEMOCRATIC CULTURE, 1800-1870

     Chapter I. The Ohio Mechanic's Institute: The Challenge of Incivility in the Democratic Republic

     Chapter 2. The American Career of Jane Marcet's Conversations on Chemistry, 1806-1853

     Chapter 3. From Individual Practitioner to Regular Physician: Cincinnati Medical Societies and the Problem of Definition among Mid-Nineteenth-Century Americans

PART TWO: THE AGE OF HIERARCHY, 1870-1920

     Chapter 4. Diagnosing Unnatural Motherhood: Nineteenth-Century Physicians and "Puerperal Insanity"

     Chapter 5. The Inventor of the Mustache Cup: James Emerson and Populist Technology, 1870-1900

     Chapter 6. Race-ism and the City: The Young Du Bois and the Role of Place in Social Theory, 1893-1901

     Chapter 7. The German-American Science of Racial Nutrition, 1870-1920

PART THREE: TOWARD AN INFINITY OF DIMENSIONS

     Chapter 8. The Case of the Manufactured Morons: Science and Social Policy in Two Eras, 1934-1966

     Chapter 9. Responding to the Airplane: Urban Rivalry, Metropolitan Regionalism, and Airport Development in Dallas, 1927-1965

     Chapter 10. Unanticipated Aftertaste: Cancer, the Role of Science, and the Question of DES Beef in Late Twentieth-Century American Culture

Afterword

Notes

Contributors

Index