You can get a great deal of insight into how and why experiments were done can by reading about the history and development of the fields of bacterial genetics and molecular biology. Some interesting references on the development of molecular genetics are listed below.

Personal insights into phage and bacterial genetics:

• Beckwith, J. 1987. Genetics at the Institut Pasteur: substance and style. ASM News 53: 551-555.
• Beckwith, J. 1987. The operon: an historical account, p. 1439-1443. In F. C. Neidhart et al. (ed.), Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium: Cellular and Molecular Biology, vol. 2. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, D.C.
• Brock, T. 1990. The Emergence of Bacterial Genetics. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
• Cairns, J., G. Stent, and J. Watson. 1992. Phage and the Origins of Molecular Biology, updated edition. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
• Campbell, A. 1993. Thirty years ago in GENETICS: Prophage insertion into the bacterial chromosome. Genetics 133: 433-438.
• Cavalli-Sforza, L.1992. Forty years ago in GENETICS: the unorthodox mating behavior of bacteria. Genetics 132: 635-637.
• Crick, F. 1988. What Mad Pursuit. Basic Books.
• Fischer, E., and C. Lipson. 1988. Thinking about Science. Max Delbruck and the Origins of Molecular Biology. W. W. Norton and Co.
• Jacob, F. 1988. The Statue Within. An Autobiography. Basic Books.
• Judson, H. 1979. The Eighth Day of Creation. Simon and Schuster.
• Luria, S. 1984. A Slot Machine, a Broken Test Tube. Harper Colophon Books.
• Lwoff, A., and A. Ullmann. 1979. Origins of Molecular Biology. Academic Press.
• McCarty, M. 1985. The Transforming Principle. W. W. Norton and Co.
• Watson, J. D. 1968. The Double Helix. Atheneum.
• Wolpert, L., and A. Richards. 1988. A Passion for Science. Oxford University Press.
• Zinder, N. 1992. Forty years ago: the discovery of bacterial transduction. Genetics 132: 291-294.

Collections of seminal papers in phage and bacterial genetics:

• Abou-Sabe, M. 1973. Benchmark Papers in Microbiology: Microbial Genetics. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross.
• Adelberg, E. 1966. Papers on Bacterial Genetics, Second Edition Little, Brown, and Co.
• Beckwith, J., and T. Silhavy. 1992. The Power of Bacterial Genetics. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
• Denniston, K., and L. Enquist. 1981. Benchmark Papers in Microbiology: Recombinant DNA. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross.
• Freifelder, D. 1978. The DNA Molecule: Structure and Properties. W. H. Freeman.
• Stent, G. 1960. Papers on Bacterial Viruses. Little, Brown, and Co.
• Zubay, G., and J. Marmur. 1973. Papers in Biochemical Genetics. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Good sources for general reviews on bacterial genetics and metabolism:

• Neidhardt, F. C. (ed.) 1996. Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. Cellular and Molecular Biology, Second edition. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, D. C.
• Sonenshein, A. (ed.) 1993. Bacillus subtilis and Other Gram-Positive Bacteria. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, D. C.