In Reckless Hands: Skinner v. Oklahoma and the Near-Triumph of American Eugenics

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Law, Mental Health, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century
Cover of the book In Reckless Hands: Skinner v. Oklahoma and the Near-Triumph of American Eugenics by Victoria F. Nourse, W. W. Norton & Company
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Author: Victoria F. Nourse ISBN: 9780393069648
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: July 17, 2008
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: Victoria F. Nourse
ISBN: 9780393069648
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: July 17, 2008
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

The disturbing, forgotten history of America’s experiment with eugenics.

In the 1920s and 1930s, thousands of men and women were sterilized at asylums and prisons across America. Believing that criminality and mental illness were inherited, state legislatures passed laws calling for the sterilization of “habitual criminals” and the “feebleminded.” But in 1936, inmates at Oklahoma’s McAlester prison refused to cooperate; a man named Jack Skinner was the first to come to trial. A colorful and heroic cast of characters—from the inmates themselves to their devoted, self-taught lawyer—would fight the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Only after Americans learned the extent of another large-scale eugenics project—in Nazi Germany—would the inmates triumph. Combining engrossing narrative with sharp legal analysis, Victoria F. Nourse explains the consequences of this landmark decision, still vital today—and reveals the stories of these forgotten men and women who fought for human dignity and the basic right to have a family.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The disturbing, forgotten history of America’s experiment with eugenics.

In the 1920s and 1930s, thousands of men and women were sterilized at asylums and prisons across America. Believing that criminality and mental illness were inherited, state legislatures passed laws calling for the sterilization of “habitual criminals” and the “feebleminded.” But in 1936, inmates at Oklahoma’s McAlester prison refused to cooperate; a man named Jack Skinner was the first to come to trial. A colorful and heroic cast of characters—from the inmates themselves to their devoted, self-taught lawyer—would fight the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Only after Americans learned the extent of another large-scale eugenics project—in Nazi Germany—would the inmates triumph. Combining engrossing narrative with sharp legal analysis, Victoria F. Nourse explains the consequences of this landmark decision, still vital today—and reveals the stories of these forgotten men and women who fought for human dignity and the basic right to have a family.

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