MA '86, PhD '92, University of California Press, 1996; $39.95 (cultural anthropology).
Anthropologists usually do their fieldwork among distant peoples
with exotic customs. Gusterson brought this stranger-in-a-strange-land
mentality to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the late '80s.
He spent two years studying the scientists and researchers who do the
top-secret work of designing nuclear weapons.A former anti-nuclear activist, the MIT anthropologist found himself surprisingly comfortable among the PhDs of Livermore. The scientists and the protester, it turns out, have much in common. Using intimate interviews, Gusterson reveals how the scientists become socialized through job interviews, attending nuclear tests, churchgoing and even sharing jokes. One of Gusterson's favorites: A picture of a nuclear-tipped missile arcing toward the Soviet Union with a caption that reads, "When you care enough to send the very best."
(veterinary medicine).
Renowned as one of the nation's premier animal
hospitals, Angell Memorial over the years has ministered to some
celebrity patients: Elvis's chow chow, Tracy Chapman's dachshund,
Stephen King's Welsh corgi. Its staff--which includes an oncologist, a
cardiologist, a gastroenterologist and a neurologist--treats 45,000
pets annually. In this chronicle of the year he spent hanging around
the Boston facility, journalist Sawicki details the dramatic interplay
among the doctors, pets and their human partners. He tells of King, a
German shepherd who took four bullets chasing an armed robber out a
second-story window; the homeless man who brought in his cat and gave
their address as "under the 5th Street bridge"; and the baby seal whose
stomach contained 287 coins totaling $8.37 because zoo visitors treated
its pool as a wishing well.
For narcotics cop Kevin McKay, it was just another
stakeout in San Francisco's war on drugs. A strung-out heroin addict
offers up his dealer in exchange for freedom. When McKay finds the
dealer, the man has been beaten and robbed. Enquiries lead McKay to his
own lieutenant, but his accusations fall on deaf ears. McKay finds
himself transferred out of narcotics and placed on a serial rape case.
He scours the city from Chinatown to the Tenderloin looking for a
suspect who is known only as Ski Mask. In the process of telling this
tale, former San Jose police chief McNamara manages to indict the
federal government's war against drugs and also paints a disturbing
picture of police corruption as his hero McKay discovers that the most
dangerous criminals of all are those who carry a badge.
serious threats to humanity? That the risks posed
by toxic substances are vastly exaggerated? Or that population growth
does not cause environmental damage and may even be beneficial? The
Ehrlichs heard these assertions once too often and decided to write a
book refuting what they regard as anti-science rhetoric. From Rush
Limbaugh to Julian Simon, the authors single out those they believe are
the purveyors of environmental disinformation. Then they seek to
dismantle their assertions by presenting the opposing views of some of
the world's most respected scientists.