The Science of Human Perfection: How Genes Became the Heart of American Medicine - Hardcover

Comfort, Nathaniel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300169914 ISBN 13: 9780300169911

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2012

Synopsis

Almost daily we hear news stories, advertisements, and scientific reports that promise genetic medicine will make us live longer, enable doctors to identify and treat diseases before they start, and individualize our medical care. This book traces the history of the promises of medical genetics and of the medical dimension of eugenics.

About this title

Review:

"Comfort explains how eugenics became part of medicine, and how medical and human genetics therefore derive in large part from eugenics. The great strength of this book is to work this through agnostically and calmly."-Alison Bashford, The University of Sydney -- Alison Bashford "Comfort's compelling narrative transforms our understanding of the history of human genetics in the United States. This book sheds penetrating light on how the simultaneously meritorious and fraught goals of biological improvement and of the alleviation of physical suffering have driven the development of genetic science."-Alexandra Stern, University of Michigan -- Alexandra Stern "This is a rich and important book, laced with lively vignettes and provocative judgments, Comfort recounts with an unblinking eye the evolution of medical genetics from its origins in eugenics to the era of the genome. An absorbing and informative work."-Daniel J. Kevles, Stanley Woodward Professor of History, Yale University, and author of In the Name of Eugenics -- Daniel J. Kevles "Nathaniel Comfort - an historian of medical genetics aims to demonstrate with extensive historical data that the rejection of eugenics when compared with modern medical genetics is not fully justified. A novel interpretation of the 100 year history of heredity and health in North America!"-Arno G. Motulsky, author of Vogel and Motulsky, Human Genetics, 4th Edition, 2010 -- Arno G. Motulsky "A well-balanced consideration of both the promise and problems involved in the scientific search for human betterment."-Kirkus Reviews Kirkus Reviews "[An] intriguing history...Comfort provides some complex food for thought about the balance between creating good for individuals and for the human species, and about the ways we define the methods we use." -Publishers Weekly Publishers Weekly "[A] beautifully written account of how genes became central to American medicine."-Science Science "Other books... have traced portions of the history of genetics, but none have put together the whole story in the way that Comfort has."-Choice Choice "This is the ideal scientific history: details of the science itself are integrated with the intimate details of the extended family that made up the field generation by generation, through the workers' correspondence with each other and through the oral histories. It is their internal history, informed by records of the workers' own thoughts, feelings, and words. And it suggests a new approach to the history of eugenics."-Pauline M. H. Mazumdar, Bulletin of the History of Medicine -- Pualine M. H. Mazumdar Bulletin of the History of Medicine "Excellent ... bears all the marks of an outstanding social and intellectual history of medical genetics ... readers of this fine book will find [it] an accessible, yet nuanced, account."-Stephen Pemberton, Isis -- Stephen Pemberton Isis "[I]t is always a joy to watch a skilled craftsman at work, and the pleasure in this case is doubled as Comfort wields the two crafts of doing history and of word-smithy with equal finesse. As a historian I was delighted to see so many different types of primary and secondary source materials - published scientific and technical papers, personal papers and popular writings - all in one place. I can already foresee assigning this book as a one-stop example in a historical methods course in the not-too-distant future."-Neeraja Sankaran, Journal of the History of Biology -- Neeraja Sankaran Journal of the History of Biology "[A] whirlwind tour through twentieth-century human genetics."-Nature Medicine Nature Medicine Selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2013 in the Health Sciences Category. -- Outstanding Academic Title Choice "All in all, The Science of Human Perfection is a well-researched and well-written book; not only is it a pleasure to read, but it is also a necessary and vital contribution to our knowledge of genetic medicine and the social and political milieu where scientific ideas, past and present, arise and continue to develop."-Norberto Serpente, University College London -- Norberto Serpente University College London "The Science of Human Perfection offers a compelling reinterpretation of the history of both eugenics and medical genetics. Subtly argued, richly detailed, beautifully written, and appropriately discomforting, this is a masterful study that challenges many of our unreflective contemporary assumptions about the history and nature of medical genetics, as well as the idea that eugenics was somehow something we ever left behind."-Luis Campos, University of New Mexico -- Luis Campos

About the Author:

Nathaniel Comfort is associate professor, Department of the History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, and a participant in The Oral History of Human Genetics project.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0300169914
• ISBN 13: 9780300169911
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320