The three cultures : natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities in the 21st century /

In the 21st century, Kagan (emer., Harvard) argues, the divisions among the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities have particular resonance, given dramatic changes in the structure of higher education and the methods by which research is funded. He follows in the footsteps of others who have written revisionist treatments of C. P. Snow, including John Brockman (The Third Culture, CH, Oct'95, 33-0894) and Stephen Jay Gould (The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Magister's Pox: Mending the Gap between Science and the Humanities, CH, Oct'03, 41-0893). Kagan, a social scientist, is occasionally off the mark in his discussion of the humanities, particularly in his characterization of the "culture wars" of the 1980s-90s (for example, he perpetuates the erroneous conflation of postmodernism and "deconstructionism") and in his bizarre assertion that the humanities became less prestigious when English and history began to address the concerns and welcome the contributions of women and minorities. Kagan seems to imply, in the last analysis, that winning research grants and attracting young researchers to the field are the most important indicators of a field's success. Despite these missteps, this is an invaluable contribution to an ongoing discussion. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. L. R. Braunstein Dartmouth College