The Progress of Experiment
Science and Therapeutic Reform in the United States, 1900–1990

"...this is a challenging historical study, sophisticated in its research and justifiably confident in its analysis. Marks has given us the best study we have of the shifting place and meanings of science in the culture of twentieth-century American clinical medicine." John Harley Warner, Nature

"...the chapters on the struggles to introduce randomized clinical trials are impressive. The book is sure to change how we regard the origins of clinical trials; it also asks us to broaden our understanding of experimental ethics and to question the effects of different kinds of disciplinary authority. Marks shows once again that there is no single voice for science, but also that statistical designs can never substitute for political engagement when it comes to the kinds of therapies we decide to bar or allow. There is no better history of the complex weave of science, politics, and ethics in the design of therapeutic research protocols." Robert N. Proctor, Ph.D., The New England Journal of Medicine

"In a deeply researched, superbly structured, and lucidly written account, Harry Marks describes the attitudes and activities of a varied American group he terms 'therapeutic reformers,' who during this century strove 'to use the science of controlled experiments to direct medical practice'...Marks ends with a chapter on contemporary problems...His perspectives of science, politics, and ethics is well worth the attention of all participants in and observers of this complicated and crucial process related to the health of the nation." James Harvey Young, Bulletin of the History of Medicine

"This book merits reading by anyone trying to understand the complex and problematic rrelationship between biomedical science and clinical patient care." Marcia Meldrum, Isis

"This book merits reading by anyone trying to understand the complex and problematic relationship between biomedical science and clinical patient care." Marcia Meldrum, Isis

"Marks has drwan on a wide array of published and unpublished sources in this well-written book. The story that he tells is a complex one that weaves together many threads..." John Parascandola, American Historical Review

"This sociologically-informed historical account enables some of the underbelly of relationships between health-care knowledge and medical policy to be examined. Its depiction of a science relatively weak in its ability to shape health-care policy is worthy of careful consideration amongst the current proponents of health technology assessment and evidence-based medicine." Alex Faulkner, Science and Public Policy

“The Progress of Experiment: Science and Therapeutic Reform in the United States: 1900-1990” explains the origins of clinical research in the United States and how it has evolved into an indispensible foundation for medical care. It also explains why the Food & Drug Administration controls the marketing and labeling of drugs, but not how physicians prescribe them." -Journal of Clinical Research Best Practices