'Know thyself' is no easier for nations than for people. This original book offers a valuable lesson on our present problem of discovering how a nation can learn to know itself.
Bruno Latour, Professor and Vice-President for Research, Institut d'études politiques (Sciences Po); author of Down to Earth
The Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges once proposed a map the size of its territory. Emmanuel Didier shows us how American statisticians created such a map and made it readable.
Lawrence Busch, Professor Emeritus, Michigan State University; author of Knowledge for Sale
This meticulous work of historical sociology leads to a fundamental yet pragmatic reflection: how can the social sciences evade the omnipotence of expertise to serve the public?
Luc Boltanski, Professor, L'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris; author of The New Spirit of Capitalism
With theoretical sophistication and meticulous archival research, Didier traces the fascinating history of the United States' development of random sampling as a way to know, govern, and, ultimately, remake itself. This book is a tour de force.
Wendy Espeland, Professor of Sociology, Northwestern University; coauthor of Engines of Anxiety
