The science journalist and broadcaster tackles pernicious untruths about race and eugenics. With rationalism and detailed research, Saini picks apart the dangerous arguments of race scientists and challenges their chilling resurgence in the 21st century.
Where did the idea of race come from, and what does it mean? In an age of identity politics, DNA ancestry testing and the rise of the far-right, a belief in biological differences between populations is experiencing a resurgence. The truth is: race is a social construct. Our problem is we find this hard to believe.
In Superior, award-winning author Angela Saini investigates the concept of race, from its origins to the present day. Engaging with geneticists, anthropologists, historians and social scientists from across the globe, Superior is a rigorous, much needed examination of the insidious and destructive nature of the belief that race is real, and that some groups of people are superior to others.
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 9780008293864
Number of pages: 352
Weight: 250 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 22 mm
‘In this essential book, Angela Saini deftly shows how science and racism have long been intertwined, why that pernicious history continues to this day, and why “race science” is so deeply flawed. Deeply researched, masterfully written, and sorely needed, Superior is an exceptional work by one of the world's best science writers’ Ed Yong ‘This is an essential book on an urgent topic by one of our most authoritative science writers’ Sathnam Sanghera ‘This is an urgent and important book. It contains a warning: you thought racism might be on its way out of science? … You thought wrong’ Observer ‘As in her previous book Inferior, about gender, Saini skilfully brings together interviews with historians, scientists and the objects of racial science themselves to paint a harrowing picture of the influence of race on science and vice versa’ Sunday Times ‘A very good book: informative and chilling … The history she uncovers is eye-opening and heart-breaking; it’s right to be wary of that history repeating’ The Times ‘The concept of “race” persists, even though it is biologically meaningless. This important book considers why … superb’ Guardian ‘…a brilliant and devastating book’ Telegraph
Biological essentialism, race realism, the study of population variance: all sound innocuous enough, but are concepts at the heart of a renewed race science that imagines a hierarchy of peoples wherein certain groups... More
This book debunks many myths peddled by supremacists about race and is a very timely reaction against both the frightening nationalist resurgence in many of the major democracies in the free world and the current... More
This is a definite read for the current times. I feel ashamed that until recently I haven’t paid much attention to “white privilege” or to the every day racism that happens whether we notice it or not. This book and... More
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