S e t h S h u l m a n
BOOKS:
Undermining Science:
Suppression and Distortion in the Bush Administration
(University of California Press, 2006)
This book grew out of an investigation I led for the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) looking into the politicization and mishandling of scientific and technical information in the administration of George W. Bush. The investigation resulted in the groundbreaking 2004 report “Restoring Scientific Integrity in Policy Making.”
In the report a group of well-known scientists issued a highly publicized statement accusing the Bush administration of a misuse of science based on the report’s findings. It was signed by dozens of Nobel laureates, National Medal of Science recipients, and members of the National Academy of Sciences. To date, more than 12,000 scientists across the country have signed the statement based upon this original reporting.
Undermining Science draws upon scores of interviews and includes never-released information that goes beyond the UCS report to document the Bush administration's suppression and distortion of science. I believe that the tales recounted in the book are historically significant.
As I wrote in the preface: "Students still study the infamous cronyism of Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall in the 1860s and 1870s. They study the misguided politicization of science led by the Stalin-era geneticist Trofim Lysenko in the 1930s. They study the zealous anti-communism of U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s…” As potent examples of hubris and folly, I’m sure students will similarly study the George W. Bush administration’s overt politicization and mishandling of science and technical information for many years to come.
Selected Reviews
Exhaustively sourced and researched, Shulman’s book leaves no doubt that the integrity of government research is under attack. . . . A work of timely muckraking.” (Read full review.)—Discover Magazine
Combining thorough research with lucid prose and a sense of mounting outrage, [Shulman] charges that the president's appointees and advisers are not only threatening the scientific enterprise but also American democracy itself. Shulman's consolidation of these tales of manipulation, intimidation and deception makes for disquieting reading.” (Read full review.)—Publishers Weekly
A concise, straightforward case history of the politicization of science, ideal for courses on the history, philosophy, sociology and ethics of science.” (Read full review.) —Nature
Shulman is admirably qualified to write on this topic and his descriptions of scientific concepts and issues are pithy and lucid...Undermining Science does a fine job or reporting many of the more spectacular instances of manipulation, intimidation, suppression and outright lying by Bush administration officials...” (Read full review.)” —Isis, Journal of the History of Science
In a free society, no separation of powers is more fundamentally important than that between the power of science in informing debate, and the power of politicians in implementing policy. Seth Shulman's remarkably well-documented litany of abuses should serve as a wake-up call not only to society, but also to political leaders, who cannot govern for long without independent scientific expertise grounded in unquestioned integrity.”—Simon Levin,
Center for BioComplexity, Princeton University
We can only expect the best decisions from our leaders in government when they use the best factual information they can receive from science. Shulman outlines how the current administration has systematically blocked the input of scientists in favor of ideology and favors to special interest groups.” —William H. Schlesinger, Dean,
Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences,
Duke University
Seth Shulman's Undermining Science forcefully makes the case that in the Bush administration ideology trumps fact, political expediency trumps science. The extraordinary claims made by Shulman are persuasive because they are based on concrete and fully documented events. The blow-by-blow narrative is eminently readable, as well as enlightening, even fascinating.” —Francisco J. Ayala,
Professor of Biological Sciences, U.C. Irvine,
2002 recipient of the National Medal of Science
Purchase
Buy the book from Amazon or from the University of California Press
Downloadable eBook version available from ebooks.com
Forthcoming in paperback in 2008.
