Science of Human Perfection

A history of medical genetics, from the eugenics era to the genome. Argues against the master narrative in which pseudoscientific, ideological eugenics impeded the progress of human and medical genetics until it was quelled by more noble intent. Instead, it argues that eugenics was the entry point for Mendelian genetics into medicine. By showing both that the eugenics movement had strong connections to Progressive-era health movements and that modern medical genetics remains closer to eugenics than is comfortable, the book means to jostle any reader's complacency about eugenics seeming to be locked safely in a remote past.