Reviews
Race and the Genetic Revolution: Science, Myth, and Culture by Kathleen Sloan, Sheldon Krimsky
archytas's review
4.5
I read this shortly after Dorothy Roberts' Fatal Invention, also an excellent book, which covers much of the same ground, so it was pretty much impossible not to compare. These works should constitute essential reading for anyone interested, and enthused by, genetics. Fatal Invention, written by a single author, reads more easily and as a single, built argument. Race and the Genetic Revolution, as a collection of essays by subject experts, manages a greater detail on some topics, and is also able to show some variation in approach and opinion on some questions. This suits my skeptic approach well. It's also a little heavier on the science, with less historical context.
Stand out essays include the detailed discussion of the approval of BiDil, heart medicine for self-identified African-Americans, and Sternberg et als definitive and detailed examination of intelligence and race, and the fallacy of genetics adding to our understanding of either. The discussion of the use of DNA databases in police work was both fascinating and terrifying - functioning almost a call to arms, and highlighting the very real circular logic of racial profiling. Some of the (brief) discussion on the genetics of skin colour andÂ
Cumulatively, the book builds towards a view of a society which turns all discoveries through the lens of what it expects to see - and in doing so, finds confirmation for injustice and prejudice. As you start to see more racist interpretations of genetics, more leaping upon spurious data to claim a racial hierarchy of intelligence, for example, books and studies like these will be ever more needed, to reveal the rubbish nature of these claims, and to challenge us to think about complexity. This understanding must be defended beyond the Academy, to avoid such distortions in the application of science so as to render it destructive.
Stand out essays include the detailed discussion of the approval of BiDil, heart medicine for self-identified African-Americans, and Sternberg et als definitive and detailed examination of intelligence and race, and the fallacy of genetics adding to our understanding of either. The discussion of the use of DNA databases in police work was both fascinating and terrifying - functioning almost a call to arms, and highlighting the very real circular logic of racial profiling. Some of the (brief) discussion on the genetics of skin colour andÂ
Cumulatively, the book builds towards a view of a society which turns all discoveries through the lens of what it expects to see - and in doing so, finds confirmation for injustice and prejudice. As you start to see more racist interpretations of genetics, more leaping upon spurious data to claim a racial hierarchy of intelligence, for example, books and studies like these will be ever more needed, to reveal the rubbish nature of these claims, and to challenge us to think about complexity. This understanding must be defended beyond the Academy, to avoid such distortions in the application of science so as to render it destructive.
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