Eugenics : a very short introduction / Philippa Levine.

Author
Levine, Philippa [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2017]
Description
150 pages : illustrations ; 18 cm

Availability

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks HQ751 .L48 2017 Browse related items Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Library of Congress genre(s)
    Series
    Very short introductions ; 495. [More in this series]
    Summary note
    In 1883, Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin, coined the word "eugenics" to express his dream of perfecting the human race by applying the laws of genetic heredity. Adapting Darwin's theory of evolution to human society, eugenics soon became a powerful, international movement, committed to using the principles of heredity and statistics to encourage healthy and discourage unhealthy reproduction. Early in the twentieth century and across the world, doctors, social reformers, and politicians turned to the new science of eugenics as a means to improve and strengthen their populations. Eugenics advocates claimed their methods would result in healthier, fitter babies and would dramatically limit human suffering. The reality was a different story. In the name of scientific progress and of human improvement, eugenicists targeted the weak and the sick, triggering coercive legislation on issues as disparate as race, gender, immigration, euthanasia, abortion, sterilization, intelligence, mental illness, and disease control. Nationalists eagerly embraced eugenics as a means to legitimize their countries' superiority and racialized assumptions, and the Nazis notoriously used eugenics to shape their "final solution."
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references (pages 121-132) and index.
    Contents
    • The world of eugenics
    • Eugenic intelligence
    • Eugenic reproduction
    • The inequalities of eugenics
    • Eugenics after 1945.
    ISBN
    • 9780199385904 ((paperback))
    • 0199385904 ((paperback))
    • 0199385939 (ebook)
    • 9780199385935 (ebook)
    LCCN
    2016028410
    OCLC
    947145372
    Other standard number
    • 40026720905
    Statement on language in description
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