Science of Human Perfection

Description:

A history of medical genetics, from the eugenics era to the genome. Argues against the master narrative in which pseudoscientific, ideological eugenics impeded the progress of human and medical genetics until it was quelled by more noble intent. Instead, it argues that eugenics was the entry point for Mendelian genetics into medicine. By showing both that the eugenics movement had strong connections to Progressive-era health movements and that modern medical genetics remains closer to eugenics than is comfortable, the book means to jostle any reader's complacency about eugenics seeming to be locked safely in a remote past.

subjects: Medical genetics,  Eugenics,  Heredity,  History,  Heredity Clinics,  Public health,  History of science,  History of Medicine

People: Francis Galton (1822-1911),  James D. Watson (1928-),  Madge T. Macklin,  Victor McKusick,  Hermann Joseph Muller,  Charles B. Davenport,  James V. Neel (1915-2000)

Places: Ohio State University,  Johns Hopkins University,  Cold Spring Harbor (N.Y.)

Times: 20th century