The Tower of Experience and the whirlwind of Modernity: Hendrik Willem van Loon's Concept of Science in the Interwar Period.

This article is an introductory survey of popular scientific publications by Hendrik Willem van Loon (1882-1944), historian, journalist, broadcaster, a leading author of the "outline craze" of the 1920s and 1930s. His books, arcicles and broadcasts were meant as part of a wider campaign to cultivate and civilize wide masses of American society in times of global anxiety, rapid technological and social changes, and countless scientific discoveries which questioned the established image of the world. Created in the historical context of shifting frontiers, upward mobility and rethinking of America's international role, Van Loon's publications give an insight in the most fervently discussed issues of the interwar period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]