Race Unmasked: Biology and Race in the Twentieth Century by Michael Yudell

Synopsis: Race, while drawn from the visual cues of human diversity, is an idea with a measurable past, an identifiable present, and an uncertain future. The concept of race has been at the center of both triumphs and tragedies in American history and has had a profound effect on the human experience. Race Unmasked revisits the origins of commonly held beliefs about the scientific nature of racial differences, examines the roots of the modern idea of race, and explains why race continues to generate controversy as a tool of classification even in our genomic age.

Surveying the work of some of the twentieth century’s most notable scientists, Race Unmasked reveals how genetics and related biological disciplines formed and preserved ideas of race and, at times, racism. A gripping history of science and scientists, Race Unmasked elucidates the limitations of a racial worldview and throws the contours of our current and evolving understanding of human diversity into sharp relief.

Published: September 2014 | ISBN-13: 978-0231168748

Mini-bio: Michael Yudell’s work seeks to document historically stigmatized populations, the challenges they face in public health and medicine, and how this history affects contemporary health challenges. His book Race Unmasked: Biology and Race in the 20th Century is a history that examines the way in which biologists and geneticists shaped the race concept during the 20th century, from eugenics to the sequencing of the human genome. – The Conversation

Kirkus Reviews Book Review
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences Book Review
The Biologist Book Review
Nature Book Review

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