Review by Choice Review
This important and fascinating work describes the transformation of US ocean science from the outbreak of World War II, through the Cold War, and to the present with its unfolding crisis of climate change. Oreskes (Harvard Univ.) discusses how military spending for oceanographic research drove the development of ocean science and influenced the growth of physical oceanography and marine geophysics. At the outset of World War II, the US Navy and the US Army Air Force recognized that information ocean scientists collected was crucial in antisubmarine warfare, weather forecasting, undersea communications, and navigation. Oreskes focuses primarily on three organizations: the Lamont Geological Observatory (Earth Institute) at Columbia University; the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, part of the University of California, San Diego; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. Until WW II, institutions such as Scripps and Woods Hole were starved for funds. The Cold War became a "golden age" for funding research, but scientists who benefited were apprehensive that the needs of the Navy were given priority over the interests of fundamental research. The book is well documented and features many interesting stories and illustrations that professionals and academicians will find appealing. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. General readers. --Joel S. Schwartz, emeritus, CUNY College of Staten Island
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
