Ingenieurs en het culturele klimaat in Nederland, 1945-1960

The article explores the deeply ambivalent attitudes towards scientists and engineers in the Netherlands during the period of economic reconstruction after WWII, by examining popular media such as illustrated magazines and comic books, as well as widely read intellectual publications, and refutes, at least for the Netherlands, the argument made famous by C.P. Snow that literary intellectuals were predominantly cultural pessimists, while scientists and engineers were optimists.