Description
Book SynopsisUsing case studies from ornithology, botany, antiquities, theology, and geology, A Democracy of Facts tells the fascinating story of naturalists coming of age and creating a profession in the early American republic.
Trade Review"A valuable contribution."" *
Journal of American History *
"Highly recommended." *
Choice *
"Andrew J. Lewis has written a useful and generative book that is essential reading for anyone interested in how natural history became science as its practitioners turned away from the public to embrace the state." *
William and Mary Quarterly *
"Andrew Lewis, in his brilliant analysis of natural history in the new republic, significantly enlarges and expands our knowledge of science in the early decades of the United States." *
Reviews in American History *
"Once in a while a book pulls together the scholarship of a generation, synthesizes it into a coherent and persuasive account, and thus becomes the platform from which new scholarship must necessarily launch. This is one of those books. In this survey of how Americans thought about and practiced science from the 1780s to the 1840s, Andrew J. Lewis uses archival research and perceptive analysis to deepen our understanding of science in the early American republic." *
American Historical Review *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: From an Empire of Reason to a Democracy of Facts
Chapter 1. The Revolution in Natural History Practice: Democratic Science and the Case of Submerging Swallows
Chapter 2. Natural History and the Market Economy: The Profitability of Plants and Rocks
Chapter 3. The Perils of a Democracy of Facts: Interpreting American Antiquities
Chapter 4. Disciplining the Democracy of Facts: A Theology of Nature
Chapter 5. Making Natural History Credible: Geological Surveys and the Utility of Republican Science
Epilogue: Scientific Practice in the Nineteenth Century
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
