M aren L orenz . Menschenzucht

In Menschenzucht: Frühe Ideen und Strategien, 1500–1870 (Human Breeding: Early Ideas and Strategies, 1500–1870), Maren Lorenz reminds us that the history of eugenics did not begin with Francis Galton’s coinage of the term. His works of the 1860s come only at the end of her story, where they mark a fateful turn toward actual implementation of eugenical programs. She argues that they were nothing new in principle but were themselves made possible by earlier speculation and discourse. In her coverage of earlier periods, Lorenz casts her net broadly to capture discussions in literature, philosophy, political and economic theory, and demography, in addition to science and medicine, and the principal strength of the book lies in the connections it is able to make among these seemingly disparate things. Any primary source that addresses any aspect of human population is grist for her mill, even if it claimed to deal...

Economics · Epistemology · Eugenics · Mill · Nothing · Political science · Politics · Population · Sociology · Speculation · Demography · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Law · Medical History and Research · Philosophy