The First Measured Century

In 1881, President James Garfield predicted that "statistical inquiry" would make the historian "the prophet of his generation". Instead of cataloging "princes, dynasties, sieges, and battles", he proclaimed, the new historian would use data to examine the lives of "the people themselves". The rise of social science made the realization of Garfield's vision possible, and thus the twentieth century became the "first measured century".

The First Measured Century looks at America in the twentieth century through the stories of influential social scientists - their triumphs and failures, and the burning controversies they started. From Julia Lathrop's data-driven crusade to reduce infant mortality to Daniel Patrick Moynihan's controversial analysis of the breakdown of the black family, this program charts the rise of social science and its attempt to tell the story of "the people themselves".