Defending the Master Race: Conservation, Eugenics, and the Legacy of Madison Grant [Hardcover]

Jonathan Peter Spiro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 2008

Scholars have labeled Madison Grant everything from the "nation's most influential racist" to the "greatest conservationist that ever lived." His life illuminates early twentieth-century America as it was heading toward the American Century, and his legacy is still very much with us today, from the speeches of immigrant-bashing politicians to the international efforts to arrest climate change. This insightful biography shows how Grant worked side-by-side with figures such as Theodore Roosevelt to found the Bronx Zoo, preserve the California redwoods, and save the American bison from extinction. But Grant was also the leader of the eugenics movement in the United States. He popularized the infamous notions that the blond-haired, blue-eyed Nordics were the "master race" and that the state should eliminate members of inferior races who were of no value to the community. Grant's behind-the-scenes machina tions convinced Congress to enact the immigration restriction legis lation of the 1920s, and his influence led many states to ban interracial marriage and sterilize thousands of "unworthy" citizens. Although most of the relevant archival materials on Madison Grant have mysteriously disappeared over the decades, Jonathan Spiro has devoted many years to reconstructing the hitherto concealed events of Grant's life. His astonishing feat of detective work re veals how the founder of the Bronx Zoo wound up writing the book that Adolf Hitler declared was his "bible."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Spiro's unfortunately-titled new book is a comprehensive examination of a powerful but nearly forgotten American figure, Madison Grant. A chief proponent of conservation, Grant spearheaded the creation of several national parks but also, as one of the most fervent proponents of science-based racism, introduced the world to the concept of the "master race." Grant's theories had an immeasurable effect on the turn-of-the-century world; a patrician academic who never held elected office, Grant nevertheless became a close confidante to several presidents, helping shape national policy on issues including conservation to immigration. Spiro also explores the complex history of the international eugenics movement and how it influenced organizations from the Nazi party to Planned Parenthood. Spiro's text is organized by theme, sacrificing clear chronology for a better grasp of Grant's pervasive influence-a worthwhile trade that keeps the narrative comprehensive and enlightening, peeling back layers of history to expose America's casual racism and the disturbing ways American law set the precedent for Nazi atrocities. A superb re-introduction to one of America's most complex modern figures, Spiro's account can only be faulted for a tendency to dig too deeply, occasionally stalling in minutiae.
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Review

"Spiro's text is organized by theme, sacrificing clear chronology for a better grasp of Grant's pervasive influence--a worthwhile trade that keeps the narrative comprehensive and enlightening, peeling back layers of history to expose America's casual racism and the disturbing ways American law set the precedent for Nazi atrocities. A superb reintroduction to one of America's most complex modern figures."--Publishers Weekly

"In this exhaustively researched biography, Spiro masterfully details Grant's ideas and accomplishments with wit and style. . . .Grant has long deserved better than he has gotten from historians and at long last Jonathan Spiro has given Madison Grant exactly what he deserved."--Journal of the History of Biology

"In spotlighting the connection between wildlife management and eugenics, Spiro has put his finger on something important. The obsession with improving breeding stock linked Grant with Hitler on the right and with other more respectable eugenicists on the left, including Margaret Sanger (who promoted birth control) and Theodore Roosevelt (who hated it)."--The New Republic

"Accessible and engaging . . . Spiro's biography recaptures an important strain of early twentieth-century American thought and reflects the complexity of its connections to other major ideas of the period."--Pacific Historical Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 508 pages
• Publisher: Univ. of Vermont Press; 1st edition (December 31, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584657154
• ISBN-13: 978-1584657156
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #161,622 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #53 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Lawyers & Judges

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars biography of prominent activist for conservation and eugenics, February 9, 2009

By 

Henry Berry "Henry Berry" (Southport, CT) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Defending the Master Race: Conservation, Eugenics, and the Legacy of Madison Grant (Hardcover)

Madison Grant threw his energies equally into conservation and eugenics. He wrote the book on eugenics The Passing of the Great Race seeing the blond-haired, blue-eyed Nordic race as the top, more desirable race. He was a cofounder of the Eugenics Committee of the U.S.A. and American Eugenics Society. Grant's racial positions extended to sterilization of those he regarded as inferior races. And he worked on racial policies and practices with Southern segregationists.

Grant stood out in the field of conservation too. He was identified with Theodore Roosevelt in helping to create the country's magnificent national parks. He was a leader in zoological organizations; and he founded the Bronx Zoo. For his decisive role in preventing the complete destruction of California's giant sequoia trees, he had one species named after him.

Spiro does not try to reconcile nor rationalize these two salient interests and activities of Grant. He does not even see them as contradictory. Grant was not conflicted over his beliefs, passions, and activities. For Grant was a robust, socially active, well-to-do, well-connected individual of the latter 1800s and early 1900s in the Teddy Roosevelt mold naturally taking a lead in fields he felt strongly about and felt were beneficial for society. Like Roosevelt, he hunted big game while at the same time working toward a major zoo where animals could be preserved and appreciated by the public. The basis of his racial views was a strong America.

With the Holocaust and the coming of a racially diverse America over the decades following World War II, Grant's abhorrent racial views (pointed to by some defendants in the Nuremberg trials in support of their involvement in genocide) eclipsed his incomparable conservationist contributions so that he became identified with the former. Any interest in him thus sunk to zero.

Writing this voluminous biography on Grant going into different dimensions and influences while presenting him as a whole and understandable, though not necessarily sympathetic figure was particularly challenging for Spiro. Grant's relatives destroyed his papers when he died in 1937. Archival material in storage was ruined by a flood or carelessly thrown out. Spiro has overcome this "dearth" in the typical source material however by exhaustive reading of newspaper accounts of Grant's activities, letters of colleagues of his, and references to him in memoirs written by his contemporaries. Despite the obstacles, Spiro has written a balanced biography that portrays Grant as a prominent man of his time; which book also sheds light on controversies continuing to this day.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding book!, January 6, 2009

By 

Mark Johnson (Canoga Park, California United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Defending the Master Race: Conservation, Eugenics, and the Legacy of Madison Grant (Hardcover)

Jonathan Spiro has written an amazing book and I'm impressed on how it operates on so many levels. It is immensely readable and provides a fascinating look at how Madison Grant began as one of the chief proponents of the conservation movement yet ended up being a tremendous influence on Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. But it is far more than just a book about Grant and really gives great insight into the social history and the mindset of early 20th century America and Europe.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that should be required reading for all college students., January 23, 2010

By 

Paul C. Johnson (Vermont) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Defending the Master Race: Conservation, Eugenics, and the Legacy of Madison Grant (Hardcover)

Jonathan Spiro has written a masterpiece! His book is much more than a biography of Madison Grant. The first 100 pages alone would make a lucid book on the history of the conservation movement in the U.S., with fascinating details of who did what. Other authors have begun their discussion of Madison Grant emphasizing his part in promoting eugenics, with less emphasis on his role in saving America's biological legacy. By starting with Grant's central role in conserving America's wildlife and forests, in the context of his being a member of the New York elite at a time of maximum immigration, Spiro has helped me to understand how an educated, caring person could have embraced the extreme racism of eugenics. He is a rare author that has created a page-turner from a exceedingly complex topic that is easily made overwhelming or boring. He is a genuine story-teller.