Science, Values, and the American West

Science, Values, and the American West brings together twenty intriguing perspectives on the impact of science and technology on the American West. Using the humanities as their guide, the writers in this volume look at the taming of the West through science and at the consequences of those efforts. Several writers approach the topic through analysis of images of the West projected in nineteenth and twentieth century literature, both fiction and nonfiction. Others examine the extraordinary power of science to shape living things, objects, and landscapes toward particular visions of a better life. Several contributors look specifically at the issue of nuclear experimentation and nuclear waste disposal to discuss not only the consequences of science, but to challenge the very processes and procedures of science itself.