The Pasteurization of France (Hardcover)

by Bruno Latour (Author), Alan Sheridan (Translator), John Law (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
In examining Pasteur's influence on the history and sociology of medicine, Latour focuses on the phenomenon of a theory becoming reality because it's time had come. He observes that as Napolean and Kutuzov were not the central characters of Tolstoy's masterpiece, neither is Pas teur a central figure in his particular work. Latour contends that the work of early "Hygienists" paved the path for Pas teur's microbiology, and that his studies gained global acceptance in spite of resis tance from traditionalists. Based on de tailed examination of major contempo rary journals, this particular translation is difficult to read, but it will prove stimulat ing to those who've enjoyed Latour's other controversial booksLaboratory Life (Sage, 1979) and Science in Action (Har vard, 1987).Mary Hemmings, Health Sciences Lib., McGill Univ., Montreal
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Everything [Latour] writes is provocative, important and worth the closest scrutiny...The radical originality and wit of Latour's approach is hugely attractive.
--Steven Shapin (Nature )

Bruno Latour delights some of us and infuriates others, but either way he has, for the past decade, been one of the most brilliant and original writers about science.
--Ian Hacking (Philosophy of Science Journal )

The Pasteurization of France offers everything one wants from a book. It is immensely stimulating, intelligent, and funny. Stylistically, it is dazzling, sometimes splendid. It offers a bold and light-hearted approach to problems that bedevil everybody trying to write historical accounts of scientific innovation in the wake of structural, poststructural, grammatological, sociological, anthropological, and narratological critiques of history.
--Elizabeth A. Williams (Social History of Medicine )

Latour has written a complex and provocative book. His insight into the way in which Pasteur transformed social relations in France and its colonies by introducing a new agent, the microbe, is fascinating.
--Lindsay Wilson (Journal of Social History )

Bruno Latour [is] one of today's most acute, if idiosyncratic, thinkers about science and society...[His] prose is often amusing...But the charm should not blind the reader to the serious intent. Mr. Latour is aiming at one of the late twentieth century's biggest problems. He is trying to provide a way of talking about science and society that does not start from the differences between them: to break down the barrier between them that started to go up in the seventeenth century. (Economist )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 292 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (November 19, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674657608
• ISBN-13: 978-0674657601
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
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• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,664,565 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)