The beginning of the 20th century saw upheaval and turbulence as  2 major scientific philosophies crumbled -- the Newtonian Mechanical Universe's  replacement by Relativity and Quantum mechanics, and the acceptance of evolution by the scientific community. These events forced a re-examination of basic ways of seeing the world -- and the cultural and political effects of a once stable philosophy suddenly altered radically.

Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver has the Newtonian revolution as its backdrop, as The Royal Society emerges from alchemy.  Stephen Jay Gould  has remarked that Darwin would not have succeeded in presenting his theory, even to brilliant men such as Hooke, Leibniz and Newton, since their minds were not yet prepared for the new kind of science.  Fiction like Quicksilver lets us attempt to imagine what that world might have been like. 

Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist - Russell McCormmach - Victor Jakob, an aging German physicist in 1918 faces the destruction of Germany after World War I,  but even more, tries to salvage something from the realization that his life's work has been in vain.  He realizes that his personal search for the world-ether has been as hopeless as the Reich's effort at domination.  After a century of living with the implications of quantum mechanics and general relativity, and in a time when string theory attempts to explain it all, it's difficult to understand the unsettling options that bewildered physicists at the turn of the century

• At one and the same time Jakob might be studying Helmholtz's derivation of the basic differ3ential equations of physics from a common least-action principle; Hertz's reformulation of the principles of mechanics ...; Boltzmann's universal atomism; Mach;'s phenomenological and Ostwald's energetic foundations of physical science along with their denials of atoms, forces, and mechanical explanations as the proper approach for understanding the physical world... Temporarily swept along by the vogue of viewing energy as the sole reality, he was soon brought to his senses by Planck and Boltzmann, whose writings showed him that the energists were hopelessly confused on physics and that they threatened to mislead young physicists into believing in a royal road to discovery.

An interesting analogy is given by the old physicist, which takes even greater relevance with the discoveries in superstring theory that emerged after this book was written:

• They would remember that mathematical physics began with music and the Greeks, with Pythagoras. Mathematical physics long ago separated off from music but the original inspiration of music to scientific thought persisted.  Without it, he told them, Kepler wouldn't have discovered the harmonies of the planetary world on which Newton's work and with it all of modern physics rested.  So if they reflected on t for a moment, they would see that without music and thee exact way of thinking about the world it inspired, this physical institute wouldn't be here, and neither would he or they.

This novel is sadly lyric and brings together musings on many fundamental themes.

Hopeful Monsters The interplay of biology, physics, philosophy and politics in the first half of the 20th century

Homage to Catalonia - George Orwell

Anthony Lewis - Make No Law - The Sullivan Case and the First Amendment -- A readable account of the libel case that dramatically defined and expanded the scope of press freedom.  It's difficult to remember that it was only in the 1960's that these ideas were settled by the Supreme Court.  Lewis backgrounds the history of press freedom, or rather government attempts to bridle it by various sedition acts that seemed to appear each generation [Ashcroft's current attempts to inhibit 1st Amendment rights is only the latest in a long series] The last chapters of the book cover libel cases through 1991 when the book went to press.  The short section on the Pentagon Papers case is particularly timely.

"Presidents have used the needs of national security in [an age of nuclear weapons] to justify cloaking more and more of the vital business of government in secrecy. The intelligence agencies spend billions of dollars every year, but the public is not allowed to know the amount or the justifications for it... The price of all this secrecy is one that Madison understood -- the growth of autocracy.... Americans are far too bewitched by the presidency and its ever-growing claims that national security demands secret government.  The public resents the press when it tries to hold the President accountable on issues of war and peace, as Madison and h is colleagues intended the press to do.

The lighter side -- science fiction often explores  these themes.

Roger Zelazny  - Lord of Light Hindu pantheon in SciFi setting

Other links:

Money- an evolutionary history