Customer Reviews

Building a Better Race: Gender, Sexuality, and Eugenics from the Turn of the Century to the Baby Boom

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Think you have learned all there is to know about the eugenics movement?
This book challenges the common wisdom that the eugenics movement fell apart when it was discredited by the horrors of Nazi Germany. Kline uses her meticulous research of original documents to map the path of the insidious belief of white upper-class Americans that the reproductive behavior of women of all classes must be controlled.
Don't know anything about eugenics?
If you are interested in learning about the roots of current hot topics such as the definition of "family values," sterilization of prisoners or the mentally ill, welfare programs for poor mothers, and the availability of quality affordable day care, this is the book for you!
The author writes in a way that is grounded in real life and understandable to the general reader, without simplifying the complex issues she addresses. Her use of fascinating case studies makes this book extremely readable at the same time that she makes important connections between race, class, sexuality, and reproduction. Everyone should read this book!

In my opinion, the blastingly negative review is unfair, and the reviewer has an axe to grind.

Kline neither says nor implies that eugenic ideology in the early 20th century was confined to (what this reviewer chooses to characterize) as those who are right wing. Nor does she maintain that female social activists were somehow able to transcend the social and political context that made eugenic 'solutions' (the word choice is intentional) seem attractive. Ignoring the fact that the coloration of Progressivw reform was heavily influenced by women is a serious oversight. Had the reviewer not been so interested in bashing Kline, or vilifying those who do not share his very narrow (and to my mind, rather misogynist) vision of the Good, he might have been able to keep this in mind.

Before I posted this, I took the time and trouble to read through other of this reviewer's deliverances. The slant is hard to miss.

Kline's book has its faults. It certainly needed editing. It also could have been shorter, and would have been more accessible if it had been, which would have been a Good Thing for a number of reasons. (Hence the dictum: never publish your dissertation unless you have a ruthless editor.)

But the very negative review is unfair. The bombast does not hide the bias.

Building a Better Race is a compelling narrative. This is an important addition to the history of eugenics, weaving together evidence from patient records, professional journals, popular magazines, manuscript collections, and eugenics tracts. It is also very well written and an enjoyable read.

This book is a published dissertation, so it's very thick and can be a slog at times. Still, it's an informative, scholarly look at the roots of the eugenics movement that is a real eye-opener to the role eugenics has played in our culture--a more significant and fundamental role than we would like to admit.