{"product_id":"building-a-better-race-gender-sexuality-and-eugenics-from-the-turn-of-the-century-to-the-baby-boom-paperback","title":"Building a Better Race: Gender, Sexuality, and Eugenics from the Turn of the Century to the Baby Boom - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eWendy Kline\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWendy Kline's lucid cultural history of eugenics in America emphasizes the movement's central, continuing interaction with popular notions of gender and morality. Kline shows how eugenics could seem a viable solution to problems of moral disorder and sexuality, especially female sexuality, during the first half of the twentieth century. Its appeal to social conscience and shared desires to strengthen the family and civilization sparked widespread public as well as scientific interest.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKline traces this growing public interest by looking at a variety of sources, including the astonishing \"morality masque\" that climaxed the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition; the nationwide correspondence of the influential Human Betterment Foundation in Pasadena, California; the medical and patient records of a \"model\" state institution that sterilized thousands of allegedly feebleminded women in California between 1900 and 1960; the surprising political and popular support for sterilization that survived initial interest in, and then disassociation from, Nazi eugenics policies; and a widely publicized court case in 1936 involving the sterilization of a wealthy young woman deemed unworthy by her mother of having children.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKline's engaging account reflects the shift from \"negative eugenics\" (preventing procreation of the \"unfit\") to \"positive eugenics,\" which encouraged procreation of the \"fit,\" and it reveals that the \"golden age\" of eugenics actually occurred long after most historians claim the movement had vanished. The middle-class \"passion for parenthood\" in the '50s had its roots, she finds, in the positive eugenics campaign of the '30s and '40s. Many issues that originated in the eugenics movement remain controversial today, such as the use of IQ testing, the medical ethics of sterilization, the moral and legal implications of cloning and genetic screening, and even the debate on family values of the 1990s. \u003ci\u003eBuilding a Better Race\u003c\/i\u003e not only places eugenics at the center of modern reevaluations of female sexuality and morality but also acknowledges eugenics as an essential aspect of major social and cultural movements in the twentieth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eFront Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBuilding a Better Race\u003c\/i\u003e powerfully demonstrates the centrality of eugenics during the first half of the twentieth century. Kline persuasively uncovers eugenics' unexpected centrality to modern assumptions about marriage, the family, and morality, even as late as the 1950s. The book is full of surprising connections and stories, and provides crucial new perspectives illuminating the history of eugenics, gender and normative twentieth-century sexuality.--Gail Bederman, author of \u003ci\u003eManliness and Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the US, 1880-1917\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA strikingly fresh approach to eugenics.... Kline's work places eugenicists squarely at the center of modern reevaluations of females sexuality, sexual morality in general, changing gender roles, and modernizing family ideology. She insists that eugenic ideas had more power and were less marginal in public discourse than other historians have indicated.--Regina Morantz-Sanchez, author of \u003ci\u003eConduct Unbecoming a Woman: Medicine on Trial in Turn-of-the-Century Brooklyn\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBuilding a Better Race\u003c\/i\u003e powerfully demonstrates the centrality of eugenics during the first half of the twentieth century. Kline persuasively uncovers eugenics' unexpected centrality to modern assumptions about marriage, the family, and morality, even as late as the 1950s. The book is full of surprising connections and stories, and provides crucial new perspectives illuminating the history of eugenics, gender and normative twentieth-century sexuality.--Gail Bederman, author of \u003ci\u003eManliness and Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the US, 1880-1917\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A strikingly fresh approach to eugenics.... Kline's work places eugenicists squarely at the center of modern reevaluations of females sexuality, sexual morality in general, changing gender roles, and modernizing family ideology. She insists that eugenic ideas had more power and were less marginal in public discourse than other historians have indicated.\"--Regina Morantz-Sanchez, author of \u003ci\u003eConduct Unbecoming a Woman: Medicine on Trial in Turn-of-the-Century Brooklyn\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWendy Kline\u003c\/b\u003e the Dema G. Seelye Chair in the History of Medicine in the Department of History at Perdue University. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eBodies of Knowledge: Sexuality, Reproduction, and Women's Health in the Second Wave\u003c\/i\u003e .\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 233\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.61 x 9 x 6.1 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e November 21, 2005\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52612388061491,"sku":"9780520246744","price":62.71,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0300\/5595\/6612\/files\/Zjg1WktBY21ONVowMjNyc0grNlhRUT09.webp?v=1761850609","url":"https:\/\/www.vysn.com\/products\/building-a-better-race-gender-sexuality-and-eugenics-from-the-turn-of-the-century-to-the-baby-boom-paperback","provider":"VYSN","version":"1.0","type":"link"}