Technical Knowledge in American Culture addresses the relationships between what modern-day experts say to each other and to their constituencies and whether what they say and do relates to the larger culture, society, and era. These essays challenge the social impact model by looking at science, technology, and medicine not as social activities but as intellectual activities.

Hamilton Cravens is professor of history, Iowa State University. He is author of The Triumph of Evolution: The Nature-Nature Controversy, 1900-1941 and Before Head Start: The Iowa Station and America's Children.

Alan I Marcus is professor of history and director of the Center for Historical Studies at Iowa State University. He is author of Agricultural Science and the Quest for Legitimacy: Farmers, Agricultural College and Experiment Stations, 1870-1890 and Technology in America: A Brief History.

David M. Katzman is professor of American Studies and of history at the University of Kansas. He is author of Before the Ghetto: Black Detroit in the Nineteenth Century and Seven Days a Week: Women and Domestic Service in Industrializing America.