The Oxford Handbook of the History of Eugenics

by Alison Bashford (Editor), Philippa Levine (Editor)

Eugenic thought and practice swept the world from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century in a remarkable transnational phenomenon. Eugenics informed social and scientific policy across the political spectrum, from liberal welfare measures in emerging social-democratic states to feminist ambitions for birth control, from public health campaigns to totalitarian dreams of the "perfectibility of man." This book dispels for uninitiated readers the automatic and apparently exclusive link between eugenics and the Holocaust. It is the first world history of eugenics and an indispensable core text for both teaching and research. Eugenics has accumulated generations of interest as experts attempted to connect biology, human capacity, and policy. In the past and the present, eugenics speaks to questions of race, class, gender and sex, evolution, governance, nationalism, disability, and the social implications of science. In the current climate, in which the human genome project,
stem cell research, and new reproductive technologies have proven so controversial, the history of eugenics has much to teach us about the relationship between scientific research, technology, and human ethical decision-making.

Genres: History, Eugenics, Science, Nonfiction, Anthropology

608 pages, Hardcover

First published August 26, 2010

About the author

Alison Bashford is Director of the Laureate Centre for the History of Population at the University of New South Wales.

Reviews

[tumulus · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dull, moralising and deeply unscientific at points.

[Joshua Duffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone interested in eugenics, this is basically enough to satisfy your intellectual craving. Lots of theory, and then a look at places around the world where eugenic practices were carried out. I think I can now attempt to put eugenic theory behind me and get back to animal ethics!

[Desiree Frias · Rating 5 out of 5]

great compendium of the tragic history of eugenics. Used it as a reference in my paper on Puerto Rican subjugation.