In this sequel to his acclaimed double biography, John von Neumann and Norbert Wiener, Steve Heims recounts another fascinating story in twentieth-century intellectual history - a series of encounters that captured a moment of transformation in the human sciences. Focusing on the Macy Foundation conferences, which were designed to forge connections between wartime science and postwar social science, Heims's richly detailed account explores the dialogues that emerged among a remarkable group that included Wiener, von Neumann, Margaret Mead, Gregory Bateson, Warren McCulloch, Kurt Lewin, Molly Harrower, and Lawrence Kubie. Heims shows how those dialogues shaped ideas in psychology, sociology, anthropology, and psychiatry.
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"The story told by this book is fascinating."
—Martin Sbubik, Science
"This impressive text ... is really about interdisciplinary science and creative thinking... Laced throughout is a clear description of how politics and personalities affect the formulation of scientific thought... [It] accurately and completely presents scientific ideas while it maintains compelling readability. It is ideal collateral reading for any science course.
—G. William Troxler, Science Books & Films
About the Author
Steve J. Heims, once a research physicist, has devoted his attention to the history of twentieth century science for the past two decades.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Top minds trying to find common ground,
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This review is from: Constructing a Social Science for Postwar America: The Cybernetics Group, 1946-1953 (Paperback)
I have only seen a hardcover copy of this book from 1991. Many of the issues that others have brought to my attention in my lifetime were put in specific professional frames of reference in this book. As history, I'm afraid it strives for the kind of understanding that will totally escape a TV culture nation of shoppers spending itself into a plastic financial hole. Those who would like to see the background which allowed Michel Foucault to emerge as an expert in the way civilized society attempts to deal with people who are considered mad by people who no longer function well together would benefit from the context in which professionals who had compteting responsibilites could observe each other trying the same aspects of psychotic multiplicity on each other again and again without finding the kind of resolution any sane society would insist upon. Foucault gets quoted and mentioned as a frame of reference suitable in 1991 for understanding issues raised in Macy conferences and subsequent papers by the outstanding participants.
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