Davenport's Dream: 21st Century Reflections on Heredity and Eugenics

by Witkowski, Jan A; Inglis, John R

• ISBN13: 9780879697563
• ISBN10: 0879697563
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-03-10
• Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

Summary

In 1911, the influential geneticist Charles Davenport published Heredity in Relation to Eugenics,advancing his ideas of how genetics would improve society in the 20th century. It became a college textbook and a foundation for the widespread eugenics movement in the United States. Nearly 100 years later, many of the issues raised by Davenport are again being debated, in different guises. In this new volume, prominent academics discuss themes from Davenport’s book—human genetic variation, mental illness, nature vs. nurture, human evolution—in a contemporary context. Davenport’s original book is reprinted along with the essays. This book will be useful to historians of science as well as those interested in the social implications of human genetics research—past, present, and future.

Table of Contents

Preface
Foreword
Genes and Politics	p. 1
Charles Benedict Davenport, 1866-1944	p. 35
The Eugenic World of Charles Benedict Davenport	p. 59
Davenport's Dream	p. 77
Genetic Determinism and Evolutionary Ethics: A Mitochondrial Perspective	p. 99
Psychiatric Genetics in an Era of Relative Enlightenment	p. 123
Genes in Mind?	p. 145
Davenport and Heredity Counseling	p. 159
Genetics and Equality	p. 167
Genetics and Human Nature	p. 181
A Reprint of Heredity in Relation to Eugenics by Charles Benedict Davenport follows page	p. 192
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