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Nancy Ordover
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American Eugenics: Race, Queer Anatomy, and the Science of Nationalism First edition, Kindle Edition

by Nancy Ordover (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 14 ratings
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The Nazis may have given eugenics its negative connotations, but the practice-and the "science" that supports it-is still disturbingly alive in America in anti-immigration initiatives, the quest for a "gay gene," and theories of collective intelligence. Tracing the historical roots and persistence of eugenics in the United States, Nancy Ordover explores the political and cultural climate that has endowed these campaigns with mass appeal and scientific legitimacy.

American Eugenics demonstrates how biological theories of race, gender, and sexuality are crucially linked through a concern with regulating the "unfit." These links emerge in Ordover's examination of three separate but ultimately related American eugenics campaigns: early twentieth-century anti-immigration crusades; medical models and interventions imposed on (and sometimes embraced by) lesbians, gays, transgendered people, and bisexuals; and the compulsory sterilization of poor women and women of color. Throughout, her work reveals how constructed notions of race, gender, sexuality, and nation are put to ideological uses and how "faith in science" can undermine progressive social movements, drawing liberals and conservatives alike into eugenics-based discourse and policies.

Nancy Ordover is an independent scholar who lives in New York City.

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  1. ISBN-13
    978-0816635580
  2. Edition
    First edition
  3. Publisher
    Univ Of Minnesota Press
  4. Publication date
    January 15, 2003
  5. Language
    English
  6. File size
    2841 KB
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0043RU5A6
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Univ Of Minnesota Press; First edition (January 15, 2003)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 15, 2003
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2841 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Not enabled
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 328 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 14 ratings

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Nancy Ordover

Nancy Ordover

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4.2 out of 5 stars
14 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Antero Pietila
    5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly well doneI have
    Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    I have come to the conclusion that the influence of eugenics, often coupled with Confederate nostalgia, defined race relations in the U.S. from early suburbanization in the 1880s to WWII. Having written about this in my new book, "Not in My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City," I was particularly eager to read Ordover's work. The deeper I got into it, the more excited I got. She writes with grace and effectiveness about such gruesome events as phycisian-ordered butchery of sexual organs. Her documentation is first rate. She has engrossing stories to tell. This is an important work on eugenics.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Wayne B. Miller
    5.0 out of 5 stars A very detailed and well documented overview of the ongoing ...
    Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    A very detailed and well documented overview of the ongoing attempts to categorize, segregate, sterilize, and regulate human beings based on their DNA.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Jordan
    1.0 out of 5 stars Boring
    Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Very dry and basically talks about immigration the entire time.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Colander Sanchez
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Pervasiness of American Eugenics
    Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2005
    Ordover's well-focused historical eye counteracts the problematic tendency to minimize America's brutality in the constructions of race and sexual orientation; these constructions serve liberal and conservative politic and scientic thought but which yield devastating consequences for the actual lives under the microscope. Her rigorous research deserves accolades. Subtle eugenicist-thought pervades so much contemporary debate on issues from immigration to gay rights. Amazing book.
    13 people found this helpful
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  • Seth J. Frantzman
    3.0 out of 5 stars A fallacy of arguments
    Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2004
    This books fallacious argument is that Race is `constructed' and `pseudo-scientific'. This claim alone should relegate this book to obvious inaccuracy. Anyone with even one eye can determine exactly what race someone is by looking at them, the exception being people of mixed heritage. But modern anthropology taught at every college in America teaches the physical differences of indigenous people of Africa, Asia and Europe. But beyond this false argument the book then descends into the swampish argument that Eugenics have been used in America for `sexist' and `homophobic' purposes. How is this possible? Are their more men in America then women? No. So how were Eugenic used for sexist reasons. This argument is never backed up, it is just said with the idea that the audience will gobble up this as `truth'. And how can genetics have been used to `homophobic' reasons when even the most left wing homosexual activists admit no `gay gene' exists. This argument is simply pure fallacy and this book makes many outlandish claims that seem to be in line with the statement `if you tell a big enough lie enough times people will believe it'. Not a reliable text.
    Seth J. Frantzman
    10 people found this helpful
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  • Stephanie Romer
    3.0 out of 5 stars Full of nonsense, but educational in unexpected ways...
    Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2003
    I gave this book 3 stars because it is completely full of Politically Correct nonsense that flies in the face of billions of years of evolutionary history plainly available to modern science. It has value to me mainly in that we can see here clearly the mind-numbng effects of social pressures and politically correct mindsets. It is very educational about the effects of the brainwashing we receive on these topics every day. She talks about race as being a "constructed" concept--basically saying we made it up--yet it is a fact of nature that we differ in various races according to a whole constellation of physical and mental characteristics. Our cultures are very different also as a result. Pretty shocking stuff that she would say this was made up... You must read this book for this reason alone. That is why I gave it 3 stars.
    9 people found this helpful
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