Provides an A-to-Z overview of eugenics-the science of improving humans through heredity-one of the most controversial scientific and cultural movements of the last century.
Preface Acknowledgments List of Entries Introduction Dictionary Entries Selected Chronology Index
RUTH CLIFFORD ENGS is Professor of Applied Health Science at Indiana University, Bloomington.
The primary focus of this reference work is the rise of the
eugenics movement in the US during the 20th century, with
additional coverage of Great Britain and Germany. These three
countries were the principle proponents of eugenics, which is
essentially the science of improving the human race through
selective breeding. Although eugenics has had varying degrees of
success over the years, with some well-known followers, it carries
a controversial history and is associated with some of the past
century's most appalling moments. Following a brief introduction of
the basic concept and a short history, the book is organized in an
A-Z format listing prominent individuals, organizations,
publications, and important historical periods….Recommended.
Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.
*Choice*
Engs has produced a solid treatment of a topic that should be of
particular interest to the reading public at large as well as to
students of political ideologies, eugenics, genetics, public
health, and modern biology. It is difficult to think of another
general introduction as comprehensible as this.
*Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions*
The Eugenics Movement: An Encyclopedia makes a handy and sober
guide to the subject….an appropriate selection for public and
academic libraries.
*Catholic Library World*
[T]his book is the kind of solid, rich, well-crafted compendium on
a specialized topic that librarians hand long been able to expect
from Greenwood. Its contents provide the beginning and scholarly
user with a broad and authoritative introduction to the topic of
eugenics, the science of the improvement of the human race by
better breeding, in the words of one of its key spokesmen Charles
Davenport….Eugenics has become a hot topic of late, thanks to the
growth of cultural studies, a new interest in the history of
science, and the revival of many of the issues with which it was
associated, thanks to recent developments in genetics. One imagines
this work providing librarians working with college and high school
students, and even some more advances researchers, in beginning to
understand the key questions surrounding this topic, and then
finding their way to further material on the subject.
*College & Research Libraries*
Engs provides information concerning prominent people,
organizations, publications, conferences, and concepts involved in
the hereditarian and eugenics movements from the middle 19th
century to 2005. Though she focuses on the early 20th-century in
the US, she also discusses links between the past and present and
with Britain and German, the other two countries most involved with
the eugenic measures and debates. Among her topics are whether such
techniques as cloning, genetic engineering, and genetic testing do
or do not qualify as eugenics.
*Reference & Research Book News*
In 250 alphabetically arranged entries on people (including birth
and death dates), organizations, publications, conferences, and
concepts, the author describes how the movement developed and
spread. Entries are clearly and succinctly written, with enough
length when necessary….Extensive cross-references are in bold type,
and further reading is suggested at the end of each entry. While
recognizing that some entries and terminology may be offensive, the
author points out in her preface that it is important to examine
such terms in their historical context. ^LThe information in this
unique resource is accurate and current, with events and books from
2004. A list of entries at the front, black-and-white photos, an
index, a 20-page chronology (beginning in 1853), and a 14-page
bibliography are helpful for locating entries and engaging in
further study….This is a recommended resource for large public and
academic libraries.
*Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin*
[R]eviews almost 200 years of history and packs in reference
entries on different eugenics movements, theories, history, and
laws around the world. An intriguing health and social issues title
which college-level collections won't want to miss.
*MBR Bookwatch*
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