Lukas Rieppel is the David and Michelle Ebersman Assistant Professor of History at Brown University. He has held fellowships from the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard University, the Science in Human Culture Program at Northwestern University, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
A penetrating study of legitimacy and capitalism in the realm of
fossils. It traces the parallel growth of paleontology and the
public museums in which dinosaur fossils often end up being
housed…Perhaps what Rieppel is studying, really, is the way museums
distinguish themselves, intellectually and economically, from the
Barnum-like hustle of their dime-museum predecessors…The museum
seems now to be a more purified place. And yet it’s worth reading
Rieppel on the work of legacy-laundering before you stop by to see
the newest T. rex in its David H. Koch Dinosaur Wing.
*New York Review of Books*
Assembling the Dinosaur is a solid entry into the growing body of
literature on Gilded Age American paleontology, but it is
particularly valuable for its contribution to enhancing our
understanding of how science and its representation during that
period were influenced by, and in turn affected, society as a
whole. By incorporating cultural, economic, and scientific
developments, Rieppel shines new light on the history of both
American paleontology and museum exhibition practice.
*Science*
Rieppel traces the commingling of capitalism and science…Thrilling
museum fossil displays burnished the reputations of philanthropists
who backed the institutions, such as Andrew Carnegie and J. P.
Morgan—even as the tycoons twisted the dinosaurs’ demise into a
metaphor for the advance of ‘enlightened’ corporate culture.
*Nature*
[A] beautiful first book…This is the cultural history of science at
its best, revealing the rigging, both material and conceptual, with
which not only the dinosaur but also the scientific process have
come to be held in place…Rieppel’s book will be required reading
for students of both the history of modern science and the history
of capitalism precisely because he convincingly shows that you
cannot have one without the other.
*Isis*
A brilliant, original history of dinosaurs set within the landscape
of American science, capitalism, and culture. Rieppel integrates
the practices and ambitions of vertebrate paleontologists, the
patronage they found among wealthy industrialists, and the public’s
fascination with these colossal creatures from the deep past—from
the discovery of fossil remains in the American West at the turn of
the twentieth century through their assembly in emergent museums of
natural history. Resting on extensive archival research and apt
illustrations, Assembling the Dinosaur is an altogether
authoritative and captivating work.
*Daniel J. Kevles, Living Properties: Making Knowledge and
Controlling Ownership in the History of Biology*
This innovative book reinterprets the discovery of dinosaurs in the
American West as a compelling aspect of the country’s culture at a
time of dramatic economic expansion. Highly recommended as a
stimulating account of science during the Gilded Age and
beyond.
*Janet Browne, author of Charles Darwin: Voyaging*
The nineteenth century saw the simultaneous rise of industrial
capitalism and the discovery of dinosaurs. These hulking creatures,
expensive to excavate and to display, became a perfect match for
the self-presentation of the rising economic elite in the United
States. Connecting the history of capitalism and the history of
science, this important book traces how the shifting presentation
of these fossils—from massive, slow moving, and solitary to agile
and social—mirrored the transition from giant corporations to
nimble startups.
*Sven Beckert, author of Empire of Cotton: A Global
History*
Resting on broad erudition and an expansive historical imagination,
Assembling the Dinosaur explores the relationship of science,
culture, and economy in the Gilded Age. It is a unique contribution
to our understanding of the making of modern America.
*Michael Zakim, author of Accounting for Capitalism: The World
the Clerk Made*
Highly recommended for anyone interested in the cultural-historical
aspects of the study of prehistory.
*AiPT! Science*
Complex and thought provoking…It demonstrates how dinosaur
discovery has affected both science and society.
*Choice*
Readers with an interest in the history of palaeontology will be
particularly well-served by this book.
*Inquisitive Biologist*
Tracing the entwined relationship of dinosaurs, capitalism, and
culture during the Gilded Age, Rieppel reveals the outsized role
these giant reptiles played during one of the most consequential
periods in American history.
*Southeastern Naturalist*
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