The word of science carries weight in public opinion. This makes it all the more attractive for democratically elected politicians to rely on experts in their decisions. As a result, experts gain a privileged position in society, and there are increasing voices warning of a potential shift from democracy to an "expertocracy." The implications for science itself are rarely considered. Its representatives become scapegoats on whom public anger can be vented, allowing politics to remain unscathed—an evolution that threatens to become a danger for the entire scientific community, especially in anti-elitist times. In his extensive study, Caspar Hirschi reconstructs the birth of the expert in the France of Louis XIV and illustrates through fascinating "expert scandals" from history and the present the risks posed by a science oriented towards political interests.