Books by Alexandra Minna Stern
“Eugenic Nation examines the eugenics movement, the project of trying to create an ideal race in twentieth-century United States, with scientific attempts to engineer a strong, healthy, dominant, white race through breeding projects and sterilization—mostly of women of color, people who were mentally ill, or people who were deemed promiscuous. Forced sterilization stayed with us all the way into the 1970s. I teach with Eugenic Nation all the time; it’s very well-written.” Read more...
The best books on White Supremacy
Kathleen Belew, Historian
“What I like about Stern’s book is the breadth of it. She is interested in unusual manifestations of eugenics beyond the obvious.” Read more...
Philippa Levine, Historian
Interviews where books by Alexandra Minna Stern were recommended
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1
In the Name of Eugenics: Genetics and the Uses of Human Heredity
by Daniel Kevles -
2
The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism
by Stefan Kuhl -
3
Eugenic Nation: Faults and Frontiers of Better Breeding in Modern America
by Alexandra Minna Stern -
4
The Hour of Eugenics: Race, Gender, and Nation in Latin America
by Nancy Leys Stepan -
5
Heredity and Hope: The Case for Genetic Screening
by Ruth Schwartz Cowan
The best books on Eugenics, recommended by Philippa Levine
The best books on Eugenics, recommended by Philippa Levine
The term ‘eugenics’ elicits queasiness amongst those who associate it with the Nazis. But Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw and Margaret Sanger were among its many proponents in the interwar period. Why? Philippa Levine, professor of history at the University of Texas, explains.
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1
What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law and the Making of Race in America
by Peggy Pascoe -
2
Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race
by Matthew Frye Jacobson -
3
Eugenic Nation: Faults and Frontiers of Better Breeding in Modern America
by Alexandra Minna Stern -
4
From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America
by Elizabeth Hinton -
5
The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas
by Monica Muñoz Martinez
The best books on White Supremacy, recommended by Kathleen Belew
The best books on White Supremacy, recommended by Kathleen Belew
Defined by University of Chicago historian Kathleen Belew, white supremacy is a “broad system of laws, norms and customs that create a society with unequal opportunities for people based on race”. It persists to this day, and has surprising intersections with issues of labor and women’s reproduction. Here, she recommends books for coming to grips with the history of this complex topic.