Building a Better Race: Gender, Sexuality, and Eugenics from the Turn of the Century to the Baby Boom (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "In 1915, despite the onset of World War 1 and the lingering effects of the 1906 earthquake, San Francisco hosted the Panama Pacific International Exposition..." (more)
Key Phrases: cautery stricture, reproductive morality, sterilization advocates, Cooper Hewitt, Sonoma State Home, San Francisco (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[A] powerful argument that today's right-wing preoccupation with family morality is rooted in the eugenics movement of the 1920s." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

Product Description

Wendy Kline's lucid cultural history of eugenics in America emphasizes the movement's central, continuing interaction with popular notions of gender and morality. Kline shows how eugenics could seem a viable solution to problems of moral disorder and sexuality, especially female sexuality, during the first half of the twentieth century. Its appeal to social conscience and shared desires to strengthen the family and civilization sparked widespread public as well as scientific interest. Kline traces this growing public interest by looking at a variety of sources, including the astonishing "morality masque" that climaxed the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition; the nationwide correspondence of the influential Human Betterment Foundation in Pasadena, California; the medical and patient records of a "model" state institution that sterilized thousands of allegedly feebleminded women in California between 1900 and 1960; the surprising political and popular support for sterilization that survived initial interest in, and then disassociation from, Nazi eugenics policies; and a widely publicized court case in 1936 involving the sterilization of a wealthy young woman deemed unworthy by her mother of having children.

Kline's engaging account reflects the shift from "negative eugenics" (preventing procreation of the "unfit") to "positive eugenics," which encouraged procreation of the "fit," and it reveals that the "golden age" of eugenics actually occurred long after most historians claim the movement had vanished. The middle-class "passion for parenthood" in the '50s had its roots, she finds, in the positive eugenics campaign of the '30s and '40s. Many issues that originated in the eugenics movement remain controversial today, such as the use of IQ testing, the medical ethics of sterilization, the moral and legal implications of cloning and genetic screening, and even the debate on family values of the 1990s. Building a Better Race not only places eugenics at the center of modern reevaluations of female sexuality and morality but also acknowledges eugenics as an essential aspect of major social and cultural movements in the twentieth century.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 254 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (November 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520225023
• ISBN-13: 979-0520225021
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,529,702 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating read, not only for academics!, January 15, 2002

By	J. Lloyd (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Think you have learned all there is to know about the eugenics movement?
This book challenges the common wisdom that the eugenics movement fell apart when it was discredited by the horrors of Nazi Germany. Kline uses her meticulous research of original documents to map the path of the insidious belief of white upper-class Americans that the reproductive behavior of women of all classes must be controlled.
Don't know anything about eugenics?
If you are interested in learning about the roots of current hot topics such as the definition of "family values," sterilization of prisoners or the mentally ill, welfare programs for poor mothers, and the availability of quality affordable day care, this is the book for you!
The author writes in a way that is grounded in real life and understandable to the general reader, without simplifying the complex issues she addresses. Her use of fascinating case studies makes this book extremely readable at the same time that she makes important connections between race, class, sexuality, and reproduction. Everyone should read this book!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light vs. heat, May 15, 2007

By	N. A. Davis "Perspicacious professor" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Building a Better Race: Gender, Sexuality, and Eugenics from the Turn of the Century to the Baby Boom (Paperback)

In my opinion, the blastingly negative review is unfair, and the reviewer has an axe to grind.

Kline neither says nor implies that eugenic ideology in the early 20th century was confined to (what this reviewer chooses to characterize) as those who are right wing. Nor does she maintain that female social activists were somehow able to transcend the social and political context that made eugenic 'solutions' (the word choice is intentional) seem attractive. Ignoring the fact that the coloration of Progressivw reform was heavily influenced by women is a serious oversight. Had the reviewer not been so interested in bashing Kline, or vilifying those who do not share his very narrow (and to my mind, rather misogynist) vision of the Good, he might have been able to keep this in mind.

Before I posted this, I took the time and trouble to read through other of this reviewer's deliverances. The slant is hard to miss.

Kline's book has its faults. It certainly needed editing. It also could have been shorter, and would have been more accessible if it had been, which would have been a Good Thing for a number of reasons. (Hence the dictum: never publish your dissertation unless you have a ruthless editor.)

But the very negative review is unfair. The bombast does not hide the bias.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent reference, January 30, 2004

By A Customer

Building a Better Race is a compelling narrative. This is an important addition to the history of eugenics, weaving together evidence from patient records, professional journals, popular magazines, manuscript collections, and eugenics tracts. It is also very well written and an enjoyable read.