Science news and science current events, research and discoveries.
Top science news articles and science current events stories from the past week.
Science Resources
Science RSS News Feeds
Earth, Life and Space Science RSS News Feeds.
|
 |
 |
 |
| View Larger Image | The Unfit: A History of a Bad Idea
by Elof Axel Carlson
| | List Price: | $26.00 |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 447796 | | Studio: | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press | | | Binding: | Hardcover | | Number Of Pages: | 451 | | Publication Date: | June 15, 2001 | | Publisher: | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press |
| |
EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
The Unfit, by Elof Carlson, explores the sources of a movement-negative eugenics-that was used to justify the Holocaust, which claimed millions of innocent lives in World War II. The title reflects the nearly three centuries of belief that some people are socially unfit by virtue of a defective biology, and echoes an earlier theory of degeneracy, dating to biblical antiquity, in which some people were deemed unfit because of some transgression against religious law. The author presents the first biological theory of degeneracy-onanism-and then follows the development of degeneracy theory throughout the nineteenth century and its application to a variety of social classes. The key intellectual theories and their proponents form the framework of this exploration, which includes the concepts of evolution and heredity and how they were applied to social problems. These ideas are followed into the twentieth century with the development of theories of positive and negative eugenics, the establishment of compulsory sterilization laws, racism and anti-Semitism, and the Holocaust. This story of misapplied science and technology is one that still haunts humanity in the twenty-first century. The ghost of eugenics recurs in many guises during debates and controversies about intelligence testing, genetic screening, prenatal diagnosis, gene therapy, new reproductive strategies, and uses of our genomic information. Carlson ends his discussion of the history of humanity in this arena with an exploration of the future of genetics that is based on new technologies and application of the Human Genome Project findings, as well as a discussion of the death of the old eugenics and of the problems that will not go away, including our ambivalence about our own biology. |
Amazon.com's Best of 2001
I am going to say it clearly and succinctly: this brand-new book is one of the most important scholarly works of the year. Seeking to understand why some people were poor, homeless, criminally inclined, mentally ill, and in other ways socially inadequate, 19th-century theorists turned to the science of eugenics, the concept of genetically unfit people. This stunning book is an exploration of the profound contemporary resonance of this concept and how it directly contributed to such persecutions as the Holocaust. Certain individuals were judged "degenerate" as early as biblical times, and the condition was viewed as a punishment for religious transgression. Noted author Elof Axel Carlson traces the idea that degeneracy was biologically determined and shows how the social application of the label changed throughout the last century as the new academic discipline of sociology emerged. Carlson describes the failures and abuses of the social movements in the United States and Europe with their sorry history of racism, anti-Semitism, and violations of basic human rights. Carlson writes beautifully, but I want to warn readers that this is not a book to be looked at lightly. It probably couldn't have the power it does if it did not include the wealth of illustrations and extensive notes, but it is indeed a serious study of this disturbing science. As Carlson writes in his Introduction, "Readers of this book may feel uncomfortable, as I certainly did, when they realize that there is a lot of mythology associated with the origins of the eugenics movement. It is embarrassing to see many strange bedfellows in the development of the idea of unfit people, and it should give us pause if we believe that the Holocaust could have been predicted from its earliest roots." I shivered when I read that statement. --Charles Decker |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 5 reviews)
|
Does not mention Edward Blyth 
Does not mention the creation scientists Edward Blyth who Darwin ripped off and spun the theory of natural selection from.
January 24, 2008 | |
Fascinating, but doesn't make the case...
I'm not a biologist, but I've done a fair bit of reading on eugenics. I feel "Unfit" doesn't doesn't make the case it sets out to make. Although there are certainly very silly ideas associated with eugenics in the past, it doesn't mean the science hasn't since become quite refined and persists under different names.
That there are people who are unequal to others is a reality, that some are even "unfit" to reproduce, is opinion, and one that the author doesn't really prove to be wrong.
April 01, 2006 | |
Brilliant 
This stunningly brilliant book explores the birth and consequences of eugenics in the world, and its connections to the Holocaust. "The Unfit: A History of a Bad Idea" is thoroughly researched, yet the writing is so beautiful it reads like a novel - a fascinating and disturbing one, which should be read by millions.
December 02, 2005 | |
Two major problems
This book was well written and appeared well-researched and thorough for the most part. There was a wealth of information, and I particularly liked the biological perspective on eugenics. I often hear eugenics addressed in moral and social terms, while the bad science behind it goes unmentioned. I have two major issues with the book, however.
First, Carlson includes a couple blatant Biblical inaccuracies that, to a certain extent, cast doubt over the accuracy of the whole book. In his section on the Jews, Carlson writes, "Abraham's two and two concubines produced 12 sons, 11 of them forming scattered tribes and the 12th, Joseph, founding the state of Israel." In fact, Abraham had one wife and one son, Isaac, who himself had one son, Jacob (known as Israel), who had those 12 sons, all of whom became part of the nation of Israel, which was not founded by Joseph. He also quotes a saying of Jesus, that a bad tree does not produce good fruit, as referring to heredity, when any Christian could tell you he's talking about a believer's faith and works (fruits). This is Sunday-school level stuff.
Also, the book seemed somewhat disjointed. The chapters were self-contained packets of information, with lots of names and compressed biographies, and I didn't get a good sense of how these people and ideas interacted with each other. The first few chapters, on Biblical ideas and (...), never really come up again. He also jumped around in time quite a bit, so it was hard to pinpoint any development or narrative in the ideas and culture surrounding them. I have more information now, but the book did not put it in enough context.
April 05, 2005 | |
the finest work on Eugenics to date
This book is by far the best I have ever seen on this facinating topic. It is an extremly insightful work that is a pure joy to read. Mr. Elof Carlson is a brillant writer and this is some of his best work. I feel it is the quientessential work on Eugenics
August 30, 2001 | |
SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| |
|
|
|
|
