Like other books of this nature Science Under Siege is a disturbing read, but not because the material is new or surprising. Rather, when surveyed in such detail by two authors, who both have significant ‘skin in the game’, the totality of forces arrayed against modern science is both frightening and dismaying.
Michael Mann and Peter Hotez are high profile figures working in the interwoven and politically charged fields of climate science and vaccine development. They understand what it’s like to receive suspicious packages in the mail and be targeted by powerful figures, directly and by vicious social media campaigns.
While much of the book focuses on the tinderbox of American politics, hostile foreign powers9781761381669 seek to amplify and deepen divisions when they are identified. And, of course, anti-vaxxer politics and climate change denial is not limited to the United States. As attacks on mainstream science outrun attempts to combat them, increasingly, the cost can be measured in lives lost. Clearly, this is one of the take home messages.
Readers looking for analysis of the ‘contested science’ or arguments to wield against conspiracy theorists will be disappointed. Instead, Mann and Hotez describe the architecture of the antiscience movement, in order to challenge it. They identify the many ‘bad actors’, their motives and their strategies.
So, who are they? The authors identify five overlapping categories: plutocrats, petrostates, professionals (like the authors), propagandists, and the press. A chapter is allocated to each.
However, the authors of this urgent and well-written book are preaching mostly to the already converted, I suspect.
Reviewed by Peter Hodge
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Peter Hotez is dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and professor of pediatrics and molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, where he is also the codirector of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development. He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine, and in 2022 was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the Covid-19 vaccine.
Michael Mann is Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Penn State. He has received many honours and awards, including his selection by Scientific American as one of the 50 leading visionaries in science and technology in 2002. Additionally, he contributed, with other IPCC authors, to the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
In 2018 he received the Award for Public Engagement with Science from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Climate Communication Prize from the American Geophysical Union. In 2020 he was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences.
He is the author of numerous books, including Dire Predictions: understanding climate change and The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: dispatches from the front lines. He lives in State College, Pennsylvania.
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