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The Unfit: A History of a Bad Idea

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While Carlson has obviously spent time researching the history of eugenics and genetics in general, I have to agree with Matthew Bayer's review. There are some major issues.

First, his chapter on the Bible suffers from a lack of research, and subsequently a dependence on one person's (according to the footnotes, Rabbi Howard Diamond's) interpretations. For instance, Carlson assumes that the "rebellious disobedient son" described in Deuteronomy 21:18-21 is an example of the "unfit" (implying genetic defect) rather than an example of violations of the law. (In other words, he twists a moral rule into a eugenic one.) Perhaps it's that I'm not familiar with non-Christian interpretations of the Bible, but in most of his biblical references, he seems to jump to conclusions.

Second, you'll notice that he repeatedly points out the difference in negative and positive eugenics. (Negative eugenics tries to eliminate the unfit through practices such as forced sterilization, whereas positive eugenics encouraged the births of "good" genetic stock.) While Carlson focuses on the misdeeds of the American negative eugenics organizations, the British positive eugenicists are used as a foil and then forgotten. It could be that Carlson simply chose to focus on Americans, but when he reveals his own thoughts on the subject in the last chapters, his viewpoints seem remarkably close to the "positive" eugenicists. (He believes in eliminating the imperfect through voluntary, selective abortions, although he explains that this wouldn't necessarily rid society of those diseases.) Lastly, the book is dedicated to H.J. Muller, a notable positive eugenicist. This made me doubt that Carlson was being truly impartial when it came to the policies of positive eugenics.

Third, Carlson refers to himself as a science historian, who includes the social and cultural movements in his analysis of scientific events. However, oftentimes I felt that this led to simplistic conclusions. For instance, that the Americans were overwhelmingly "negative" eugenicists because their belief in the prevalence of opportunity made them wonder what was wrong with those who failed to succeed.

All in all, this is a great book for an overview of the history of genetic science, but not so great when the author tried to comment on other topics or draw social conclusions.

This book was well written and appeared well-researched and thorough for the most part. There was a wealth of information, and I particularly liked the biological perspective on eugenics. I often hear eugenics addressed in moral and social terms, while the bad science behind it goes unmentioned. I have two major issues with the book, however.

First, Carlson includes a couple blatant Biblical inaccuracies that, to a certain extent, cast doubt over the accuracy of the whole book. In his section on the Jews, Carlson writes, "Abraham's two and two concubines produced 12 sons, 11 of them forming scattered tribes and the 12th, Joseph, founding the state of Israel." In fact, Abraham had one wife and one son, Isaac, who himself had one son, Jacob (known as Israel), who had those 12 sons, all of whom became part of the nation of Israel, which was not founded by Joseph. He also quotes a saying of Jesus, that a bad tree does not produce good fruit, as referring to heredity, when any Christian could tell you he's talking about a believer's faith and works (fruits). This is Sunday-school level stuff.

Also, the book seemed somewhat disjointed. The chapters were self-contained packets of information, with lots of names and compressed biographies, and I didn't get a good sense of how these people and ideas interacted with each other. The first few chapters, on Biblical ideas and (...), never really come up again. He also jumped around in time quite a bit, so it was hard to pinpoint any development or narrative in the ideas and culture surrounding them. I have more information now, but the book did not put it in enough context.

This stunningly brilliant book explores the birth and consequences of eugenics in the world, and its connections to the Holocaust. "The Unfit: A History of a Bad Idea" is thoroughly researched, yet the writing is so beautiful it reads like a novel - a fascinating and disturbing one, which should be read by millions.

This book is by far the best I have ever seen on this facinating topic. It is an extremly insightful work that is a pure joy to read. Mr. Elof Carlson is a brillant writer and this is some of his best work. I feel it is the quientessential work on Eugenics

Does not mention the creationist and scientist Edward Blyth from whom Darwin ripped off and spun the theory of natural selection from.

I'm not a biologist, but I've done a fair bit of reading on eugenics. I feel "Unfit" doesn't doesn't make the case it sets out to make. Although there are certainly very silly ideas associated with eugenics in the past, it doesn't mean the science hasn't since become quite refined and persists under different names.
That there are people who are unequal to others is a reality, that some are even "unfit" to reproduce, is opinion, and one that the author doesn't really prove to be wrong.