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A harrowing history of a dangerous idea—and how it shaped the world’s image of who was most worthy of life
Eugenics emerged in the nineteenth century as a potent and seemingly benevolent—even prudent—idea: The simplest way to rid society of social ills and bring about a healthier, more “desirable” humankind was through the “science” of better breeding. Seizing on advancements in genetics as well as on nativist sentiments in an era of rapidly changing populations, influential thinkers started a movement that swept across the world in the form of marriage restrictions, segregation, and forced sterilization. German physicians and scientists would bring eugenics to its evil height during World War II, starving or executing those they deemed to be “life unworthy of life.”
But well after the liberation of Nazi death camps, health care workers and even the US government pursued policies worldwide with the express purpose of limiting the reproduction of poor non-whites. The Shortest History of Eugenics shows us how the movement lived on by other names, becoming entangled in some of the most significant and charged issues of our time, from racism, disability, and reproductive rights to immigration, genetic intervention, the treatment of criminals, and colonialism. As this insightful account takes us back to the founding principles of eugenics, it reveals how an idea that began in cattle breeding took such an insidious turn—and how it lingers in rhetoric and policy today.
“Peterson helps us see the motives and ideas behind eugenics as deeply embedded in the history of racism, imperialism, and colonialism. This book could not be more timely.”—James E. Strick, author of Sparks of Life: Darwinism and the Victorian Debates Over Spontaneous Generation
“Indispensable. This formidable history of eugenics helps us understand its continued importance in the modern discussion—from the American roots of Nazi atrocity to the continued use of eugenic practices today. It should be required reading.”—John Slattery, PhD, Executive Director, Carl G. Grefenstette Center for Ethics in Science, Technology, and Law, Duquesne University
“Reckoning with the eugenic past in all its complexity is a task for our times. In The Shortest History of Eugenics, Erik L. Peterson provides a concise survey that nevertheless gives that complexity its due, explaining how scientific ideas, medical techniques, economic incentives, and political ideologies combined to such ruinous effect, with legacies that persist right up to the present.”—Gregory Radick, author of Disputed Inheritance and professor of history and philosophy of science, University of Leeds
