The Shortest History of Eugenics: From "Science" to Atrocity - How a Dangerous Movement Shaped the World, and Why It Persists

This book delves into the harrowing history of eugenics, a movement that aimed to determine who had the right to have children and who was worthy of life. For the last two centuries, influential men used eugenics, claiming it was for fiscal responsibility, crime reduction, and racism. They implemented marriage restrictions, asylum detention, and sterilization campaigns, affecting millions worldwide. German physicians and scientists adopted and intensified these practices, starving or executing those deemed “life unworthy.”

Even after the liberation of Nazi death camps, healthcare workers and the US government pursued policies to limit the reproduction of poor non-whites. This book explores the movement’s founding principles, revealing how an idea in cattle breeding took a sinister turn and persists in rhetoric and policy today.