Title
Race unmasked [electronic resource] : biology and race in the twentieth century / Michael Yudell ; foreword by J. Craig Venter ; Mary Ann Smith, cover design.
ISBN
9780231537995 electronic book
9780231168748
Published
New York : Columbia University Press, 2014.
Copyright
©2014
Language
English
Description
1 online resource (xvi, 286 pages)
Call Number
HQ751 .Y834 2014eb
Dewey Decimal Classification
363.9/2009/04
Summary
Race, while drawn from the visual cues of human diversity, is an idea with a measurable past, an identifiable present, and an uncertain future. The concept of race has been at the center of both triumphs and tragedies in American history and has had a profound effect on the human experience. 'Race Unmasked' revisits the origins of commonly held beliefs about the scientific nature of racial differences, examines the roots of the modern idea of race, and explains why race continues to generate controversy as a tool of classification even in our genomic age. Surveying the work of some of the twentieth century's most notable scientists, 'Race Unmasked' reveals how genetics and related biological disciplines formed and preserved ideas of race and, at times, racism. A gripping history of science and scientists, 'Race Unmasked' elucidates the limitations of a racial worldview and throws the contours of our current and evolving understanding of human diversity into sharp relief.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
Source of Description
Description based on print version record.
A eugenic foundation
Charles Davenport and the biology of blackness
Eugenics in the public's eye
The National Research Council and the scientific study of race
Coloring race difference
Biology and the problem of the color line
Race and the evolutionary synthesis
Consolidating the race concept in biology
Challenges to the race concept
Naturalizing racism: the controversy over sociobiology
Race in the genomic age
Epilogue: Dobzhansky's Paradox and the future of racial research.
