{"product_id":"genetics-in-the-madhouse-the-unknown-history-of-human-heredity-9780691164540","title":"Genetics in the Madhouse: The Unknown History of Human Heredity","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): Theodore M. Porter\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: Princeton University Press\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: Princeton University Press\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: History\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the Back Cover\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"We've all been taught how genetics got its start in Mendel's pea patch. But the real story is more complicated, and a lot more interesting. In \u003ci\u003eGenetics in the Madhouse\u003c\/i\u003e, Theodore Porter chronicles some of the early history of heredity--not in gardens, but in asylums. The book is a fascinating exploration of the long-running conviction that madness, criminality, and other mental traits can be passed down from parent to child.\"\u003cb\u003e--Carl Zimmer, author of \u003ci\u003eShe Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Porter's masterful book casts the fresh light of sanity over a previously uncharted sea of data on madness. He brings analytical order to an intriguingly chaotic subject, illuminating the challenges of 'big data' from a past era when the plasticity of categorization resulted in data being deduced from conclusions, a problem with uncanny similarities to those we face today.\"\u003cb\u003e--Stephen M. Stigler, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Seven Pillars of Statistical Wisdom\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Porter brilliantly reveals the debt that the science of human heredity owes to the data gathering, numerical tables, and statistical interpretations that emerged from attempts to account for mental and physical disease among patients in asylums, hospitals, and prisons. Richly informed by archival sources, his book is masterfully argued, lucidly written, and boldly original. A landmark in the history of medicine, science, and mental illness.\"\u003cb\u003e--Daniel J. Kevles, author of \u003ci\u003eIn the Name of Eugenics: Genetics and the Uses of Human Heredity\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Porter serves as a captivating and intriguing guide into the largely uncredited history of statistical and genetic data derived from the pre-Mendelian asylums, prisons, and schools. \u003ci\u003eGenetics in the Madhouse\u003c\/i\u003e succeeds in illuminating our present concepts of heredity and eugenics by leaning into the complexities of human science.\"\u003cb\u003e--Aaron T. Beck, University of Pennsylvania\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eGenetics in the Madhouse\u003c\/i\u003e is a fascinating examination of the role played by big data in the history of genetics and its subsequent exploitation in the disgraced science of eugenics. Porter weaves together complex elements of historical influences, personalities, and seismic events almost like a novel, but the difference is that his story cannot have a neat and tidy resolution. Beautifully written and admirably researched, this is an enthralling book.\"\u003cb\u003e--Catharine Arnold, author of \u003ci\u003eBedlam: London and Its Mad\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \"Important and original. Drawing on a wealth of archival research in many languages across many different national settings, Porter reexamines the role of psychiatry in the study of human heredity. \u003ci\u003eGenetics in the Madhouse\u003c\/i\u003e is an enormously impressive book.\"\u003cb\u003e--Andrew Scull, author of \u003ci\u003eMadness in Civilization: A Cultural History of Insanity, from the Bible to Freud, from the Madhouse to Modern Medicine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \"A very significant contribution to the history of the human sciences, statistics, and eugenics. Porter rewards readers not only with astonishing insights into nineteenth-century data collection on the mentally ill and feebleminded, but also with the pleasure of reading a good, intriguing story.\"\u003cb\u003e--Staffan Müller-Wille, coauthor of \u003ci\u003eA Cultural History of Heredity\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Princeton University Press","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":45083906703511,"sku":"9780691164540","price":2100.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9780691164540.webp?v=1767636244","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/genetics-in-the-madhouse-the-unknown-history-of-human-heredity-9780691164540","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}