Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 272 pages
- Published by: Rutgers University Press February 2003
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0813533023
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0813533025
-
Book Dimensions:
8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
- Weighs: 2.6 pounds
Product Description
A scientific dismantling of the concept of "race."
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Back Cover Copy
In this groundbreaking book, Joseph Graves traces the development of thought about human genetic diversity. He argues that racism has persisted in our society because adequate scientific reasoning has not entered into the equation. Graves champions the scientific method, and explains how we may properly ask questions about the nature of population differentiation and how (if at all) we may correlate that diversity to differences in human capacity and behavior. He also cautions us to think critically about scientific findings that have historically been misused in controversies over racial differences in intelligence heritability, criminal behavior, disease predisposition, and other traits. Greek philosophy, social Darwinism, New World colonialism, the eugenics movement, intelligence testing biases, and racial health fallacies are just a few of the topics he addresses.
According to Graves, this country cannot truly address its racial problems until people understand that separate human races do not exist empirically. With the biological basis for race removed, racism becomes an ideology, one that can and must be expunged.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Reader ReviewsJoseph Graves' The Emperor's New Clothes is a well-written exposition of the evidence for one single human race. Graves correctly points out that the human species could have developed into separate races, but that it didn't happen. This isn't a book of wishful thinking, but rather a book of hard science. If there is a political slant to the book, I didn't find it noticable. I enjoyed reading this book. A familiarity with high school-level genetics is required for a full appreciation of Graves' arguments and my 4-star rating is based on my feeling that Graves' intended this book for a wide audience, but wrote it beyond the level of many of the people it was intended for. People who are ignorant of one subject tend to be ignorant of many subjects. How many bigots actually paid attention in high school biology and remember their lessons in genetics?
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