A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE : THE TWO CULTURES DEBATE, ITS LEGACY, AND THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE

Abstract

The job market for historians of science, while not as bad as in the recent past, has not yet grown so vigorous that one could safely consider saying to much of anything asked in interviews. Hence, when asked recently in a grim voice (before I had taken my seat in the interview stall at the American Historical Association meeting) if I could teach a lecture course on Medieval England, I heard myself, like a voice from afar: Yes. Yes, I will. Yes! I suspect my enthusiastic version of Molly Bloom fooled no one, as a glimpse of my curriculum vitae evidenced not the least qualification in this regard. The small and middle-tier institutions that had advertised an