Murderous Science [Paperback]

Benno Muller-Hill (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0879695315 | ISBN-13: 978-0879695316 | Publication Date: January 1, 1997 | Edition: 1

The Human Genome Project has associated many mutant genes with physical ailments and the genetic basis of certain behavioral characteristics is being seriously discussed. In the 1920s and 1930s, advocates for eugenics claimed that genes influenced human behavior, but with no valid evidence. In Germany the Nazis adopted their ideas to justify violent anti-semitism. In this new, expanded edition of the English translation of his compelling book T f6;dliche Wissenschaft, the distinguished German geneticist Benno M fc;ller-Hill documents the long-suppressed collusion of eugenics and racist politics which resulted in the mass murder of millions. In a new Afterword, he warns against the misuse today of newly emerging knowledge about human heredity. In an accompanying essay, Nobel Laureate James D. Watson, an architect of this new era of genetics, vividly describes a recent visit to Berlin and his impressions of the legacy of eugenics in German science.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; 1 edition (January 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879695315
• ISBN-13: 978-0879695316
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,651,737 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading the age of the Human Genome Project, March 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Murderous Science (Paperback)

Benno Muller-Hill's study examines two issues that demand the attention of anyone interested in science, history and society. The first is the story of how German scientists - pioneers in the study of genetics in the human population - lent their scientific prestege to the mind-numbing brutality of the Nazis. Their scholarly works on "Race-hygiene" with its thinly disguised anti-semitism produced first the sterilization of thousands of "undesirables" in the 1930s - under a guise of scientific acceptablility and then escalated into the industrial scale murder that the world knows as the Holocaust.

A second major thread is how the scientific perpetrators - such as Verscher and his student - the more notorious Mengele - survived the war and in Verscher's case were continued to be honored by European scientific societies into the 1960. Not just Germans - but British, French Italians and Americans chose to turn a blind eye as they presented awards to the collaborator in Mengele's Auschwitz "twin-studies".

Benno Muller-Hill has uncovered the documentation of these whitewashed academics in the archives of the current German national research institutes. His discoveries and publications have been met with stoney silence, and the locking of archives and papers. His book may be the most through and well documented account that will be available for many years to come.

As he notes as we enter the age of the Human Genome we need to remember that scientific competentence is no protection from murderous immorality - that we should not hide or forget what has been done under the guise of "scientific reason" in past and that the most advanced science is no substitute for ethical and moral judgement in future.

0 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars expensive, July 20, 2008

By 

Esfandiar Behrouz "Esfandiar" (Venice, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murderous Science (Paperback)

I wonder why would anyone pay for a book like this when they can get the same information on all newspapers, online news, History channel, etc.