Main description:

+ Clearly exposes the most frequent calumnies made against science
+ Shows how dogmatic religion, the financial interests of certain industries, and opportunistic politicians sometime work in cohort to undermine the public's trust in science
+ Acknowledges that science's most mistaken critics are often skilled communicators, and that effectively defending science requires an equally skilled defense
+ Shows that while the "Science Wars" of the 1990s have abated, their effects on some of the methodologies in higher education and the larger population continue
+ Examines three case studies to clearly illustrate how reliable scientific knowledge is secured:
* Eratosthenes' discovery of the circumference of the earth
* Louis Pasteur's development of anthrax and rabies vaccines
* The rapid emergence of scientific consensus regarding continental drift

Contents:

Introduction: What Has Science Done for me Lately?; 1: The "Science Wars" and Why They Had to be Won; 2: The Facts About Social Constructivism; 3: Thomas Kuhn: Foe of Science?; 4: Thomas Kuhn: Friend of Science?; 5: Can We Have Good Science and the Right Values?; 6: Dinosaur Revolutions; 7: How We Know About Big, Complex Things; Conclusion; Bibliography;