Evolution of Racism: The Human Differences and the Use and Abuse of Science [Hardcover]

Pat Shipman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1994 | ISBN-10: 0671754602 | ISBN-13: 978-0671754600

Ever since Charles Darwin first wrote about the "descent of man, " the differences between the human races have been the subject of the most enduring controversy over the "origin of the species." Evolutionary theory has been used and abused as a scientific justification or intellectual weapon by racists and anti-racists alike. Careers have been made and broken, lives dedicated or sacrificed, societies destroyed, and wars fought over what Darwin called the "value of the differences" among humankind. The Evolution of Racism is a history of both evolutionary theory and ideas about race and racism. In an intellectually engaging narrative that mixes science and history, theories and personalities, Pat Shipman explains the original controversy over evolution in Darwin's time; the corruption of evolutionary theory into eugenics; the conflict between laboratory research in genetics and field work in physical anthropology and biology, which gave rise to the "new synthesis" of modern evolutionary biology, which in turn cast new light on the age-old debate over nature verses nurture; and the continuing controversies over the heritability of intelligence, criminal behavior, and other traits. The Evolution of Racism gives a fresh picture of familiar characters such as Darwin, Thomas Huxley, and Ashley Montagu, and introduces general readers to less well known but influential figures such as Ernst Haeckel, the scientific father of the eugenics movement, and Carleton Coon, the last of the great anthropologist/explorers, whose life-long work on racial differences became the center of a bitter academic feud that spilled over into public life. A sober and sobering examination of the most volatilequestions about human differences, The Evolution of Racism is a scientific and intellectual history that will open the topic for much-needed discussion and open our minds along the way.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Shipman, coauthor of The Neanderthals , has written an accessible history of the attempts of scientists, from the mid-19th century to the present, to grapple with issues of race. From Charles Darwin's wide-ranging explorations of evolution emerged fellow Briton's Thomas Henry Huxley's applications to human history. By the late 19th century, Herbert Spencer seized on Darwinism to argue for laissez-faire government. Darwin's cousin, Francis Galton, proposed the idea of eugenics: advancing the species through careful breeding. From eugenics came intelligence testing, used in the early 20th century to the detriment of immigrants to America and eventually by Nazi science. Shipman tracks the continuing controversy in the 1950s and 1960s about whether to examine or deny racial difference and discusses at much length a proposed but canceled 1992 conference on genetics and crime. This thoughtful study warns that treating race as a taboo subject hinders legitimate scientific investigation of differences among humans.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Shipman, coauthor of The Neandertals (LJ 12/92), is quickly becoming one of the better popular science writers working today. Here she traces the intertwined history of evolution and racism from the publication of Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species to current controversies over genetic links to violent behavior. Despite the title, the story focuses more on the history of race as a scientific concept than on the misappropriation of such concepts by political leaders and social crusaders. As a result we learn much about the scientists involved in the debate but only a little about the use and abuse of science by nonscientists. Still, Shipman's book is clearly written and very accessible. A valuable addition to most libraries.
Eric Hinsdale, Trinity Univ. Lib., San Antonio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (July 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671754602
• ISBN-13: 978-0671754600
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #948,124 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written, thoughtful and comprehensive, May 27, 2000

By 

sam (Toronto Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Evolution of Racism: The Human Differences and the Use and Abuse of Science (Hardcover)

Shipman begins her book with Darwin and reflects on his struggles in presenting "The Origin of the Species" as he understood the controversy it would unleash. It is remarkable that the controversy has not abated in over a hundred years, but has instead evolved as delineated in the book. Shipman's work should be required reading for students in a variety of disciplines to give them the tools to defend against the henchmen of pseudoscience such as Rushton and Kevin MacDonald. Shipman reflects on the complexities of evolution and of human differences while making it clear that the human experience is diverse, and the use of science to support racism is not good science by any measure. This book is need badly in an updated version to uncover the flawed arguments of the newly prominent racists who are sheltered by academia.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Evolution of Racism, December 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Evolution of Racism: The Human Differences and the Use and Abuse of Science (Hardcover)

Creationists can be funny (See below). But this is no laughing matter. Pat Shipman, and other scientists, should be applauded for taking a stand against pseudoscience, not belittled. Kudos to Shipman for writing such a wonderful book.

3 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truth, August 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Evolution of Racism: The Human Differences and the Use and Abuse of Science (Hardcover)

Alas a writer who acknowledges that evolution implies racism and selection of the superior race. Politicians have been trying to suppress this, but they will fail in the end, as evolution wins. You cannot stop nature.