Jukes-Edwards

by A.E. Winship

Of all the problems which America faces on the land and on the seas, no one is so important as that of making regenerates out of degenerates. The massing of people in large cities, the incoming of vast multitudes from the impoverished masses of several European and Asiatic countries, the tendency to interpret liberty as license, the contagious nature of moral, as well as of physical, diseases combine to make it of the utmost importance that American enterprise and moral force find ways and means for accomplishing this transformation. The grand results of the movement in New York city inspired by Jacob Riis; the fascinating benevolence of the Roycroft Shop in East Aurora, N.Y.; the marvelous transfiguration of character—I speak it reverently—at the George Junior Republic, Freeville, N.Y., added to the College Settlement and kindred efforts merely indicate what may be accomplished when philanthropy supplements saying by doing, and when Christianity stands for the beauty of wholeness and is satisfied with nothing less than the physical, mental and moral conversions of all classes among the masses at home as well as abroad, in the East as well as in the West. A problem is primarily something thrown at us as a challenge for us to see through it. To solve a problem is to loosen it so that it may be looked into or seen through. Whatever contributes to the loosening of a problem by throwing light upon the conditions is of value in aiding in its solution, hence the publication of this study of the family of Jonathan Edwards as a contrast to the Jukes.

58 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1900

Reviews

[Avis Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

People who believe that behavior is learned need to read this book. It's the comparison of two multi-generational families, namely the criminal clan the Jukes, with the Edwards, the family of Jonathan Edwards the colonial minister. The author makes an unusually convincing argument that behavior is actually genetically determined.

Available at the Internet Archive:
https://archive.org/details/cu3192403...