Breeding

TRAMA

Presents a historical backdrop to current debates about heredity, sex and race.

NOTE EDITORE

Breeding charts more than two thousand years of ideas about the nature of sex and heredity. From the speculations of the ancient, medieval and early modern worlds to the birth of genetics in the modern age, John Waller examines how we came to solve one of the greatest of enigmas: why offspring tend to look like their parents. But this book goes further than telling a story of scientific advance. It also explores the social and political realities which often determined how people used the concept of heredity. It reveals how, from Plato's Republic to the modern IQ and race debate, the notion that some qualities of body and mind are inborn has been used to justify the supremacy of social elites and the racist ideologies of those who have profited from slavery and colonial expansion. This is a history of scientific developments, ideological inventions, and how the two have changed one another.

SOMMARIO

1 - Bred in the bone2 - The ideology of blood3 - Thinking about race: Moors, slaves and native Americans4 - Polydactyly, preformation and racial science5 - The invention of progress6 - The patrician's malady and other afflictions7 - Bakewell's sheep: the vogue for animal breeding8 - Progress and decay9 - Breeding in and out10 - Monads, men and mockingbirds11 - Degeneration and dire predictions12 - 'Galaxies of geniuses'13 - The gospel spreads14 - From heredity to genetics15 - Edging towards disaster16 - 'Lives not worth living'17 - The Double Helix and beyond18 - The demise of post-war consensus

AUTORE

John Waller was educated at the universities of Oxford and London, and is now associate professor of the history of medicine at Michigan State University. He is the author of a number of books and articles on the history of science, medicine, and child warfare, including Fabulous Science (OUP, 2002), The Discovery of the Germ (Columbia University Press, 2005), and The Real Oliver Twist (Icon Books, 2006).

ALTRE INFORMAZIONI

• Condizione: Nuovo
• ISBN: 9780199239214
• Dimensioni: 234 x 156 mm
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Illustration Notes: c. 25 illustrations
• Pagine Arabe: 368