Widely regarded as a classic in its field, Constructing Quarks recounts the history of the post-war conceptual development of elementary-particle physics. Inviting a reappraisal of the status of scientific knowledge, Andrew Pickering suggests that scientists are not mere passive observers and reporters of nature. Rather they are social beings as well as active constructors of natural phenomena who engage in both experimental and theoretical practice.

"A prodigious piece of scholarship that I can heartily recommend."-Michael Riordan, New Scientist

"An admirable history....

An engaging range of period texts and theme books for AS and A Level history. The Wars of the Roses and the struggle for the throne between the Houses of York and Lancaster dominate the history of England in the latter half of the fifteenth century. But what were the causes of over forty years of sporadic civil war and how was political stability at last restored? Andrew Pickering aanalyses the historical debates surrounding the characters and events. Topics include fifteenth-century kingship and the reign of Henry VI, the end of the Yorkists, Henry VII and the establishment of the Tudor...

It was not so long ago that the belief in witchcraft was shared by members of all levels of society. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, diseases were feared by all, the infant mortality rate was high, and around one in six harvests was likely to fail. In the small rural communities in which most people lived, affection and enmity could build over long periods. When misfortune befell a family, they looked to their neighbours for support - and for the cause. During the sixteenth century, Europe was subject to a fevered and pious wave of witch hunts and trials. As the bodies of accused...