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The Retreat of Scientific Racism: Changing Concepts of Race in Britain and the United States between the World Wars

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Elazar Barkan's book The Retreat of Scientific Racism builds on Daniel Kevles' In The Name of Eugenics. While Kevles focuses on eugenics / genetics, Barkan takes a broader approach, looking at developments in eugenics / genetics, biology and physical anthropology, tracing the interactions and developments which led to the removal of the concept of race from the field of science. While Kevles' book remains the standard introduction to Anglo-American eugenics, Barkan's is essential for anybody looking at the topic of race and science in the first half of the century. Whilst acknowledging the causes of shifts in science outlined by Kevles and others such as Garland Allen and Diane Paul, Barkan suggests that it was the inclusion of `outsiders' which ultimately drove those changes. These `outsiders' included women (such as Margaret Mead), socialists (such as J B S Haldane) and Jews (such as Otto Klineberg). The Retreat of Scientific Racism offers excellent lists of primary source material from archives, books and journals of the period. One of the book's greatest strengths is the clear lay out and structure of the book. For example, those people who are central to changes in the field of race and science each have a short section devoted to them giving an overview of the person's life, work, relationships, motivations and intellectual development. The figures covered in this way range from those who are well known today such as Julian Huxley, Franz Boas and Bronislaw Malinowski to the less well known but equally important like Ales Hrdlicka and Herbert Spencer Jennings. (Barkan excludes from his cast of central figures some obvious ones such as Nobel Prize winners T H Morgan and Hermann J Muller and influential non-scientists such as Madison Grant). These portraits are neatly woven into the strong narrative of the book. Students and researchers can `dip' in and out of the book easily to get the information they need on various figures and events. The Retreat of Scientific Racism, whilst being an excellent resource for the specialist, also provides an extremely good introduction to the field of race, science and eugenics.