Better for All the World: The Secret History of Forced Sterilization and America's Quest for Racial Purity [Hardcover]

I found this to be an exemplary treatment of a fascinating topic--the American eugenics movement and compulsory sterilization. The author has certainly done his research and his command of the material is superb. He begins his discussion with the Carrie Buck case (1927), that legitimated state compulsory sterilization laws, which he examines in depth. This Supreme Court opinion, by Justice Holmes, forever is associated with his statement: "Three generations of imbeciles are enough." Strangely, after spending many pages probing the facts, the author really does not spend much time analyzing Holmes' opinion and his rationale. For that, one needs to check Ted White's biography of the Justice.

Next, the author moves into a history of the eugenics movement (including its British antecedents), both prior to and after the Buck case. The leading figures in the movement, including Charles Davenport and Harry Laughlin, are all profiled in depth and their activities documented over much of the first half of the 20th century. The role of the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations in funding eugenics research is also examined. The relationship between eugenics supporters and the infamous Immigration Act of 1924 also is discussed. The development of the compulsory sterilization device is as well studied and placed in perspective. One of the most interesting facets of the book is how closely the Nazis based their eugenics and race laws upon American examples, a somewhat embarassing fact that emerged from the Nuremberg trials. The last couple of chapters on several extended case studies struck me as repetitive and unnecessary, though they do add more of the poignant human dimension.

The author has included helpful illustrations and extensive notes. The writing is clear and moves along, although at 365 pages (not counting notes) the treatment certainly is not lean. Knopf continues its reputation for producing quality books that are a pleasure to hold and read--this being another example of the fine work of Berryville Graphics in Virginia.

I was absolutely absorbed by this book, which deftly interweaves the story of Eugenics as an abstract idea with the story of its all-too-real progenitors. Far too little is known about the American origins of this racist pseudo-science, and Bruinius manages to tell us all about it without ever sounding preachy or didactic. One of the best non-fiction books I've read in years, and a potent warning to those who would place too much faith in either science or ideology -- at the expense of real human lives.

This is one of those books that makes your hair stand up on your neck. Saw the author on C-SPAN during a recent book blitz with some of the best authors that caused me to make a huge order with Aamzon.com.

Now I had known some about eugenics and forced sterilization and the role Margaret Sanger and others played, but this book was a major eye opener. In it one discovers that forced sterilization was something aimed at white women until the very end of its run, and that California and not some state like Mississippi, Alabama etc had the highest numbers of forced sterilization.

That epilepsy was a medical condition they said required sterilization, even though we now know and have for decades that its a treatable condition and one that even people with exceptionally high IQ's can have, often a result of an accident NOT genetics.

And for those who have thought that Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was the most brilliant jurist in American history, think again, when one reads that he fully supported forced sterilization as did New England Protestants whom the writer notes 'had been obsessed by the character of the nation'. 'In universities like Yale and Harvard, a theology of divine election was giving way to a theory of race that idealized the ancestry of the Nordics, and in particular the Germanic Anglo-Saxons'.

The author also shares that on December 1945 during the Nuremberg war trials against the Nazis that one would find out that it was the United States' laws requiring forced sterilization that had been copied by the Nazis. That it was the United States that they were emulating no matter how much they hated us.

Interestingly many of the same medical professionals who believed in and practiced forced sterilization on those who were considered inferior medically would have their view come home to haunt them. Both when they themselves developed medical conditions that had led to the sterilization of others or as in the case of Charles Davenport whose young son Charlie Jr succumbed to polio in 1916.

On page 85 one reads ' It is the first step with farmers and gardeners to endeavor to obtain good breeds of domestic animals and sedulously to cultivate plants, for it pays them well to do so' said a young student named Francis Galton from Cambrige University who lived during Queen Victoria's time.

The information on John H. Kellogg is facinating. Not just the part of his founding the Kellogg cereal company but his support of sterilization and other eugenic thought.

Its a book I couldn't put down and one I am about to re-read because I am sure there are things I missed. It also forced me to face my views on eugenics which I have mixed feelings on. Mainly because I think someone who is so mentally retarded as to not know how to avoid or protect themselves from pregnancy, might benefit in a humane way by being sterilized. Its an issue I question a lot.

The author ends by writing 'As human beings enter this new era considering the stunning promises of science and technology, as they contemplate the possibilities of directing their evolution and moving toward a more perfect state of being, the history of forced sterilization and Americas quest for racial purity is worth remembering.'

Interestingly I think of who would they want sterilized today were these laws still in effect. Sure someone might say Anna Nicole Smith or a Paris Hilton. But in reality I fear it would be people like Dr Stephen Hawking or the science whiz in school who happens to have epilepsy.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 25 reviews  3.5 out of 5 stars