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

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

The disturbing, forgotten history of Americaâ€™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 â€œhabitual criminalsâ€ and the â€œfeebleminded.â€ But in 1936, inmates at Oklahomaâ€™s McAlester prison refused to cooperate; a man named Jack Skinner was the first to come to trial. A colorful and heroic cast of charactersâ€•from the inmates themselves to their devoted, self-taught lawyerâ€•would fight the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Only after Americans learned the extent of another large-scale eugenics projectâ€•in Nazi Germanyâ€•would the inmates triumph. Combining engrossing narrative with sharp legal analysis, Victoria F. Nourse explains the consequences of this landmark decision, still vital todayâ€•and reveals the stories of these forgotten men and women who fought for human dignity and the basic right to have a family.
Country USA
Brand W. W. Norton & Company
Manufacturer W. W. Norton & Company
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber 11 photos
ReleaseDate 2008-07-17
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780393065299

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