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Three Generations, No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell
"Three generations of imbeciles are enough." Few lines from Supreme Court opinions are as memorable as this declaration by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. in the landmark 1927 case Buck v. Bell. The ruling allowed states to forcibly sterilize residents in order to prevent "feebleminded and socially inadequate" people from having children. It is the only time the Supreme Court endorsed surgery as a tool of government policy. Paul Lombardo’s startling narrative exposes the Buck case’s fraudulent roots.
In 1924 Carrie Buck—involuntarily institutionalized by the State of Virginia after she was raped and impregnated—challenged the state’s plan to sterilize her. Having already judged her mother and daughter mentally deficient, Virginia wanted to make Buck the first person sterilized under a new law designed to prevent hereditarily "defective" people from reproducing. Lombardo’s more than twenty-five years of research and his own interview with Buck before she died demonstrate conclusively that she was destined to lose the case before it had even begun. Neither Carrie Buck nor her mother and daughter were the "imbeciles" condemned in the Holmes opinion. Her lawyer—a founder of the institution where she was held—never challenged Virginia’s arguments and called no witnesses on Buck’s behalf. And judges who heard her case, from state courts up to the U.S. Supreme Court, sympathized with the eugenics movement. Virginia had Carrie Buck sterilized shortly after the 1927 decision.
Though Buck set the stage for more than sixty thousand involuntary sterilizations in the United States and was cited at the Nuremberg trials in defense of Nazi sterilization experiments, it has never been overturned. Three Generations, No Imbeciles tracks the notorious case through its history, revealing that it remains a potent symbol of government control of reproduction and a troubling precedent for the human genome era.
In 1924 Carrie Buck—involuntarily institutionalized by the State of Virginia after she was raped and impregnated—challenged the state’s plan to sterilize her. Having already judged her mother and daughter mentally deficient, Virginia wanted to make Buck the first person sterilized under a new law designed to prevent hereditarily "defective" people from reproducing. Lombardo’s more than twenty-five years of research and his own interview with Buck before she died demonstrate conclusively that she was destined to lose the case before it had even begun. Neither Carrie Buck nor her mother and daughter were the "imbeciles" condemned in the Holmes opinion. Her lawyer—a founder of the institution where she was held—never challenged Virginia’s arguments and called no witnesses on Buck’s behalf. And judges who heard her case, from state courts up to the U.S. Supreme Court, sympathized with the eugenics movement. Virginia had Carrie Buck sterilized shortly after the 1927 decision.
Though Buck set the stage for more than sixty thousand involuntary sterilizations in the United States and was cited at the Nuremberg trials in defense of Nazi sterilization experiments, it has never been overturned. Three Generations, No Imbeciles tracks the notorious case through its history, revealing that it remains a potent symbol of government control of reproduction and a troubling precedent for the human genome era.
365 pages, Hardcover
First published June 10, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
January 3, 2017
This book is incredibly well written, and provides a good background for eugenics in contemporary American society, as well as addressing the legal precedents surrounding it. I read it while doing research for a class, and was absolutely blown away by it. Lombardo provides a good background with the history of disability and how it was addressed by governing bodies throughout history. The sections that dealt with America and how they served as pioneers in this field, were packed with information that is often excluded from history classes. This book acknowledges the much hidden past of disability rights, and how the disabled community was systematically kept separated from what neuro-typical epistemology deemed acceptable in society.
The final chapters that then examined the ramifications, and how this contributed to perception of 'otherness' around the world was intense. Analyzing the relation between the American eugenics movement and Nazi Germany, really puts things on a new perspective. Considering how the US and Germany were on opposite sides of the war, but yet thoughts and ideas were still flowing (albeit indirectly) is mind boggling. A very important book!
The final chapters that then examined the ramifications, and how this contributed to perception of 'otherness' around the world was intense. Analyzing the relation between the American eugenics movement and Nazi Germany, really puts things on a new perspective. Considering how the US and Germany were on opposite sides of the war, but yet thoughts and ideas were still flowing (albeit indirectly) is mind boggling. A very important book!
September 5, 2017
Lombardo argues that a “small number of zealous advocates” of the eugenics movement established sterilization laws that “[defy] both science and conventional wisdom” by exploiting Carrie Buck in a court case (Buck v. Bell) designed to set a precedent for the constitutionality of sterilization laws and protect practicing members of the eugenics community from prosecution. Lombardo uses the narrative of the 1927 Buck v. Bell case to tie together different arguments and topics relating to the legal, political, and scientific (or lack of scientific) history of the eugenics movement and then shifts from the story of Buck v. Bell to its implications in current legal history. It's a good, informative read on eugenics and specifically the legal history of sterilization laws. Read my full review here: http://carolinavonkampen.com/three-ge...
April 13, 2018
A history of the social and legal history of eugenics is a complicated thing to tackle. Dr. Lonbardo does a wonderful job of unraveling some of the tangles and simplifying the subject without making it simplistic. His research and notations are exhaustive, spanning 25 years of investigation into the court case and Buck family.
Carrie Buck (1906-1983, Charlottesville, VA) was the eldest daughter of Emma Buck, an impoverished woman whose husband abandoned her after the birth of their second child. Emma Buck had a third child, after which she was committed to VA State Colony for Epileptics and the Feeble-minded on basis of "immorality, imbecility, prostitution, and syphilis." Carrie Buck (and her siblings) went into the foster system. Carrie dropped out of school in sixth grade. In 1924, when she was 17, Carrie Buck was raped by her foster parents' nephew and became pregnant. She was committed to the same facility as her mother on basis of feeble-mindedness and "incorrigible behavior." Declared mentally unfit to raise her child, the baby was adopted by Carrie's former foster parents.
1924 is also the year Virginia passed SB 219, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, a law that should chill the marrow of any reasonably humane and conscientious modern American, and SB 281, the Sterilization Act, which provided for the compulsory sterilization of any individual in a state institution deemed "unfit" by reason of being "insane, idiotic, imbecile or epileptic." (We can thank Harry Laughlin, one of the most racist SOBs of the 20th century...and, yeah, I'll include Hitler in that count. Seriously, look him up. Laughlin wanted to sterilize everyone -- the homeless, alcoholics, blind and deaf people – he considered “deficient delinquents” who burdened “normal people” by their existence.)
When most people think of eugenics, Nazi Germany’s “racial cleansing” comes to mind. In fact, eugenics was practiced in the US long before Hitler borrowed aspects of it straight from Lauglin’s model and California’s eugenics laws for his own purposes. The eugenics movement in the US had been gaining steam since the turn of the century, supported and funded by powerful entities such as Luther Burbank, John Harvey Kellogg, Theodore Roosevelt, Charles Davenport, the Rockefellers, Carnegie Institute, etc. The idea of eugenics is relatively simple: protect the "positive" elements and eliminate the "negative" elements of the population by means of selective breeding, birth control, and sterilization. By the early 1900s, states began to pass sterilization laws designed to limit the reproduction of "undesirable elements of the population," usually defined as those deemed "feebleminded," the insane, blind, deaf, "promiscuous" or exhibiting any condition thought to be genetic and a drain on societal resources. Dr. Lombardo does an excellent job of tracking the legal and social strands of what becomes a powerful and rather incestuous (pardon the pun) web of power among the America's upper crust elite -- almost all of whom where educated, rich, white, Protestant, and (with a few exceptions) male.
In 1927, Carrie Buck was sterilized by the state of Virginia as a condition of release, the first person sterilized under the new Virginia Eugenics laws. The reason given for sterilization was that she was "the probably potential parent of socially inadequate offspring.” (She was released and subsequently married.) When her sister, Doris, was hospitalized for appendicitis, she was also sterilized without inform or consent, something she did not discover until 1980. Also sterilized without their consent were Carrie Buck’s mother and Carrie’s three year old daughter. The doctor who performed Carrie Buck’s sterilization was a Dr. James Bell, thus Buck vs Bell.
Cases were filed, primarily to test the constitutionality of the eugenics law and eventually ended up in the Supreme Court where Virginia’s right to compulsory sterilization was upheld. The Court’s ruling was authored by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who argued that the states’ right to protect a “pure” gene pool was greater than the individual’s right to procreation in certain instances. The books title comes from Holme’s closing statement that “Three generations of imbeciles is enough.” One of the state’s star witnesses in this trial was Laoghlin, who never met Carrie Buck.
Besides all the ways this entire situation was morally reprehensible, Dr. Lombardo is able to present documents that show the case was rigged: there is plenty of evidence to show that not only was there corruption and collusion, but that Carrie Buck’s attorney threw the case purposely. Whitehead was a staunch supporter of eugenics and connected with the movement. Also, Lombardo asserts that Carrie Buck and her daughter were not “feebleminded” at all, but were of normal intelligence.
I have read several books on the history of eugenics in the US, and this is one of the few that prioritizes information over sensationalism and emotional manipulations. The subject is disturbing enough without all that. There are some who say eugenics was an ugly period in America’s past, but perhaps it isn’t fully in the past. As technology progresses and we develop ever sophisticated ways to decode and manipulate DNA, possibly even to “pick and choose” genetic traits, we should be looking long and hard at the moral and ethical ramifications involved. Who gets to decide what traits are desirable or undesirable and on what basis?
For anyone looking for more information that builds on this book, I suggest Dr. Johanna Schoen's Choice and Coercion.
Carrie Buck (1906-1983, Charlottesville, VA) was the eldest daughter of Emma Buck, an impoverished woman whose husband abandoned her after the birth of their second child. Emma Buck had a third child, after which she was committed to VA State Colony for Epileptics and the Feeble-minded on basis of "immorality, imbecility, prostitution, and syphilis." Carrie Buck (and her siblings) went into the foster system. Carrie dropped out of school in sixth grade. In 1924, when she was 17, Carrie Buck was raped by her foster parents' nephew and became pregnant. She was committed to the same facility as her mother on basis of feeble-mindedness and "incorrigible behavior." Declared mentally unfit to raise her child, the baby was adopted by Carrie's former foster parents.
1924 is also the year Virginia passed SB 219, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, a law that should chill the marrow of any reasonably humane and conscientious modern American, and SB 281, the Sterilization Act, which provided for the compulsory sterilization of any individual in a state institution deemed "unfit" by reason of being "insane, idiotic, imbecile or epileptic." (We can thank Harry Laughlin, one of the most racist SOBs of the 20th century...and, yeah, I'll include Hitler in that count. Seriously, look him up. Laughlin wanted to sterilize everyone -- the homeless, alcoholics, blind and deaf people – he considered “deficient delinquents” who burdened “normal people” by their existence.)
When most people think of eugenics, Nazi Germany’s “racial cleansing” comes to mind. In fact, eugenics was practiced in the US long before Hitler borrowed aspects of it straight from Lauglin’s model and California’s eugenics laws for his own purposes. The eugenics movement in the US had been gaining steam since the turn of the century, supported and funded by powerful entities such as Luther Burbank, John Harvey Kellogg, Theodore Roosevelt, Charles Davenport, the Rockefellers, Carnegie Institute, etc. The idea of eugenics is relatively simple: protect the "positive" elements and eliminate the "negative" elements of the population by means of selective breeding, birth control, and sterilization. By the early 1900s, states began to pass sterilization laws designed to limit the reproduction of "undesirable elements of the population," usually defined as those deemed "feebleminded," the insane, blind, deaf, "promiscuous" or exhibiting any condition thought to be genetic and a drain on societal resources. Dr. Lombardo does an excellent job of tracking the legal and social strands of what becomes a powerful and rather incestuous (pardon the pun) web of power among the America's upper crust elite -- almost all of whom where educated, rich, white, Protestant, and (with a few exceptions) male.
In 1927, Carrie Buck was sterilized by the state of Virginia as a condition of release, the first person sterilized under the new Virginia Eugenics laws. The reason given for sterilization was that she was "the probably potential parent of socially inadequate offspring.” (She was released and subsequently married.) When her sister, Doris, was hospitalized for appendicitis, she was also sterilized without inform or consent, something she did not discover until 1980. Also sterilized without their consent were Carrie Buck’s mother and Carrie’s three year old daughter. The doctor who performed Carrie Buck’s sterilization was a Dr. James Bell, thus Buck vs Bell.
Cases were filed, primarily to test the constitutionality of the eugenics law and eventually ended up in the Supreme Court where Virginia’s right to compulsory sterilization was upheld. The Court’s ruling was authored by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who argued that the states’ right to protect a “pure” gene pool was greater than the individual’s right to procreation in certain instances. The books title comes from Holme’s closing statement that “Three generations of imbeciles is enough.” One of the state’s star witnesses in this trial was Laoghlin, who never met Carrie Buck.
Besides all the ways this entire situation was morally reprehensible, Dr. Lombardo is able to present documents that show the case was rigged: there is plenty of evidence to show that not only was there corruption and collusion, but that Carrie Buck’s attorney threw the case purposely. Whitehead was a staunch supporter of eugenics and connected with the movement. Also, Lombardo asserts that Carrie Buck and her daughter were not “feebleminded” at all, but were of normal intelligence.
I have read several books on the history of eugenics in the US, and this is one of the few that prioritizes information over sensationalism and emotional manipulations. The subject is disturbing enough without all that. There are some who say eugenics was an ugly period in America’s past, but perhaps it isn’t fully in the past. As technology progresses and we develop ever sophisticated ways to decode and manipulate DNA, possibly even to “pick and choose” genetic traits, we should be looking long and hard at the moral and ethical ramifications involved. Who gets to decide what traits are desirable or undesirable and on what basis?
For anyone looking for more information that builds on this book, I suggest Dr. Johanna Schoen's Choice and Coercion.
own-might-read
April 29, 20092009-04-26. This girl I've been on-again, off-again with is for like five years is Lombardo's research assistant at GSU Law, and she hooked me up with a copy of this a few days ago. It looks interesting, although I'll be blazing no trails to get to it anytime soon. Mmmm, legal theory...I guess? I've long been of the opinion that you could stick a team of literate mathematicians (of the Poincaré variety, literacy-wise, but not so valuable to the scientific community -- this could be more of a UGA, UC Santa Cruz, San Jose State-kinda task) in a room with a box of Mead composition notebooks, a heapin' Oklahoma-style helping of m-type amphetamine and the United States Code's 50 Titles and 9 Appendices, and they'd be out a week later with a more complete, sensible version communicated in 29 dense pages of LaTeX, not to mention with their pants just hanging off of them, and furthermore that Legal Theory ought call itself Legal Conjecture, Assumption and Fallacy but First and Foremost Verbosity But a Theory's Something You Test, Jabronies, and that the grass would grow greener if we plowed all the country's prosecuting attorneys under it, but I suppose that's why I got it handed to me with the comment, "here, you think like a eugenicist."
(my wounded reply: "Bullshit! I think like an engineer. If that leads to eugenicism, please show me where the math is wrong.")
(my wounded reply: "Bullshit! I think like an engineer. If that leads to eugenicism, please show me where the math is wrong.")
November 30, 2019
The style is a bit wooden and parts are repetitive. But it is a story that is essential to understanding where we have come from as a nation and where we are going. He connects many dots — Darwin to Galton to Hitler (and by extension to Stephen Miller and Donald Trump). From Gregor Mendel to the Human Genome Project. Eugenics hasn’t gone away. He whips from mandatory smallpox vaccination to forced sterilization to miscegenation laws to birth control and abortion. The background of Buck v Bell (nay, Priddy) was fascinating in its own right but also in the thread of landmark case law connecting Jacobson, Buck, Skinner, Griswold, Loving, and Roe v Wade — the latter of which rages on in the era of Trump/Kavanaugh.
What exactly does it mean to be human? There seems a constant need, in every generation, to displace “other” humans based on race, gender, orientation, religion, etc. And often to justify such prejudice in financial terms. What should be an embarrassing footnote in our history turns out to be a debate on our current front pages. About access to health care, education, immigration, criminal justice, etc. At its most basic it’s about control and the wielding of (in America, white male Christian) power. Sadly, that may never go away completely.
What exactly does it mean to be human? There seems a constant need, in every generation, to displace “other” humans based on race, gender, orientation, religion, etc. And often to justify such prejudice in financial terms. What should be an embarrassing footnote in our history turns out to be a debate on our current front pages. About access to health care, education, immigration, criminal justice, etc. At its most basic it’s about control and the wielding of (in America, white male Christian) power. Sadly, that may never go away completely.
October 23, 2012
This is a well-written treatment (albeit rather laborious and replete with repetition of characters whose credentials and thoughts are explored, then brought back into the timeline as their involvement in events occurred) of laws in the United States that allowed forced reproductive sterilization of many women and men thought to be carriers of traits that made them burdens on society. Those who promoted eugenics theories were of the opinion that heredity was responsible for acts of promiscuity, feeblemindedness, criminal behavior, alcoholism, and other personal characteristics. The case of Carrie Buck was taken to the U.S. Supreme Court, decided in favor of those who believed she would only produce progeny incapable of caring for themselves, and Carrie was sterilized after the decision was handed down. Her mother was believed to be feebleminded, and her daughter was believed to be as well. She insisted repeatedly that she had been raped by the nephew of her foster mother, and was not a promiscuous young woman. She was essentially imprisoned in a colony for the feebleminded, treated by a doctor who pressed her case to the exclusion of significant facts and without scientific evidence of the effects of heredity on the traits believed to have been passed to her genetically. Unfortunately for her, the attorney who defended her case failed to present valid evidence and arguments on her behalf and seemingly supported the prosecution's case. He stood up for her more in the Supreme Court case than in earlier trials, but his efforts were for naught. Carrie's daughter died at a fairly young age, but had exhibited reasonably good academic achievement, an indication that she was most likely not feebleminded--long after it was too late to help Carrie.
Sterilization laws were passed in many of the states, and two still stand on the books, the rest having been either repealed or declared unconstitutional. I found it frightening that proponents of forced sterilization were welcomed to participate in Germany's program to filter out residents not deemed fit to remain in that country's society as Adolph Hitler came to power before World War II. The Supreme Court precedent allowing reproductive sterilization set by the case of Buck vs. Bell stands today, and will only be overturned with the right case brought before the court.
Sterilization laws were passed in many of the states, and two still stand on the books, the rest having been either repealed or declared unconstitutional. I found it frightening that proponents of forced sterilization were welcomed to participate in Germany's program to filter out residents not deemed fit to remain in that country's society as Adolph Hitler came to power before World War II. The Supreme Court precedent allowing reproductive sterilization set by the case of Buck vs. Bell stands today, and will only be overturned with the right case brought before the court.
September 7, 2009
This was book 3 for week "three".
It is a very disturbing look at the uses of eugenics (a "science" of human breeding to encourage the propagation of people with "good" genes to and prevent those with "bad" genes from procreating) in the U.S. The book mostly centers on Virginia and the mental institution that originated the Buck vs. Bell supreme court case (Buck vs. Bell upheld the law that allowed sterilization of "feeble minded" people to prevent them from creating more (or any) children, who would have to be cared for by the state). But it also gave overviews of other states with sterilization laws for the "feeble minded" people and/or criminals. The book also covers the relationship between the U.S. "scientific" reports and the sterilization laws passed in Germany that were eventually condemned as war crimes.
This was an interesting book, but it felt like I had to fight to get through it.
It is a very disturbing look at the uses of eugenics (a "science" of human breeding to encourage the propagation of people with "good" genes to and prevent those with "bad" genes from procreating) in the U.S. The book mostly centers on Virginia and the mental institution that originated the Buck vs. Bell supreme court case (Buck vs. Bell upheld the law that allowed sterilization of "feeble minded" people to prevent them from creating more (or any) children, who would have to be cared for by the state). But it also gave overviews of other states with sterilization laws for the "feeble minded" people and/or criminals. The book also covers the relationship between the U.S. "scientific" reports and the sterilization laws passed in Germany that were eventually condemned as war crimes.
This was an interesting book, but it felt like I had to fight to get through it.
June 23, 2011
While Lombardo does focus on Buck vs. Bell as "the most dramatic U.S. legal expression of eugenics," don't let that (or the book's cover, which features Carrie Buck and two other generations of her family) lead you to conclude that Buck the woman is really Lombardo's subject. He does cover the outlines of Buck's biography, and he did meet with her briefly before her death in 1982. But the book is really intended as a legal history of eugenics, and forced sterilization in particular, in the U.S. It's very comprehensive, if slightly dry in some places, but ends with a very relevant discussion of recent legislation promoting sterilization and other birth control measures aimed specifically at the poor or disabled, and how sterilization law is and may continue to be intertwined with other reproductive law in the U.S. Disturbing and important history.
February 12, 2015
Lombardo is to be commended for shedding light on this frightening part of US history. The introductory chapters, the chapter about the Bell vs. Buck trial itself, and the final chapter were great, but the book overall suffered a bit from trying to be all things to all people. An encyclopedic source of information about the life histories of all the key players in the US eugenics movement and their victims. A analysis of the political and social gestalt of the times leading up to the Bell vs. Buck decision, and the times immediately following. A careful description of all legal aspects of the case. An analysis of the case's status in terms of legal precedent today. It would have been a smoother read had there been a single frame.
August 3, 2015
Lombardo is definitely a historian. This book is full of minute details surrounding the work of the scientists, physicians, legislators, and activists that contributed to the Buck v. Bell decision and sterilization advocacy for the "feebleminded," "criminals," and otherwise disabled.
The text lacks a truly intersectional framework, so Lombardo tends to frame this as an issue effecting the white heterosexual cisgendered disabled and poor. I also felt he could have done a better job teasing out the targeting of cisgender men and women by eugenic sterilization laws, physicians, and researchers.
The text lacks a truly intersectional framework, so Lombardo tends to frame this as an issue effecting the white heterosexual cisgendered disabled and poor. I also felt he could have done a better job teasing out the targeting of cisgender men and women by eugenic sterilization laws, physicians, and researchers.
April 12, 2018
Lombardo sheds light on a lesser known painful part of American history. Upon reading this book I discovered harsh truths about American school curriculum in that it neglects to delve into this topic. Eugenics is definitely a topic worth discussion, especially in this modern age, as we consider its impact on biodiversity.
January 3, 2009
Lombardo is the leading expert on Buck v. Bell. There is simply no better authority to go to in understanding the activists and advocates who worked to pass involuntary sterilization laws - and then manipulated the courts to get those laws declared constitutional.
February 12, 2009
I hate to say it, this was very dry and I couldn't enjoy the act of reading this book. Don't get me wrong, I've read plenty of books that will rip your heart out and make you howl at the moon at all the injustices and evil in our world, but this one just left me saying "meh" and detached.
July 16, 2009
This is not a vacation read. After listening to an interview with the author I expected much more detail about the actual Buck family. The book focuses on the eugenics movement and the court cases surrounding the push to forcibly sterilize the "feeble-minded."
April 2, 2013
The argument toward the end, that support for Roe v. Wade is logically connected to opposition to Buck v. Bell (and support for Buck connects to opposition to Roe) is fascinating, and explains certain political alignments that hadn't made sense to me till now.
May 15, 2014
This is a good history of the Buck v. Bell supreme court case. The book can be a bit dry at times. Yet, it is a fascinating, and often forgotten, part of our history. Buck v. Bell has never been overturned and with advances in genetics happening every day the topic still remains relevant.
Currently reading
February 13, 2009Terrifying to realize that the law that sterilized thousands of "unfit" individuals in the United States is still on the books.
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January 14, 2010Amazing but truly sad.
December 31, 2013
I reviewed this book here: http://turnthepagelisa.wordpress.com/...
March 8, 2012
Heart breaking story. Heavy on legalese, but the characters really shine through. Also painfully relevant.
April 7, 2014
My Amazon Review -
http://www.amazon.com/review/R27YE64F...
http://www.amazon.com/review/R27YE64F...
February 17, 2016
Lomardo's study goes beyond the Virginia-based case of Buck v. Bell, skillfully putting it in the context of the Eugenics movement.
February 1, 2017
This is an interesting and disturbing look at how easy it is to take away the rights of the poor and mentally ill. This court decision is one of the worst and has never been overturned.
November 25, 2019
Excellent! Well-researched, well-written examination of the history of the eugenics movement in the United States, as well as how Germans and Americans influenced each other. Human rights abuses were committed against those — mainly women — accused of being “feeble minded” and in many cases, survivors have not been given proper apologies or compensation for their suffering. This book should be required reading for every college student so that atrocities like the eugenics movement do not happen again.
April 17, 2025
Absolutely an amazing book. Lombardo very effectively outlines the historical, social, and legal contexts behind the American Eugenics movement that led up to Buck v. Bell (1927), and the international impacts of the case. With the ongoing political environment, the subject matter is incredibly relevant to today's topics surrounding social welfare, sexuality, and personhood. Very upsetting, but incredibly powerful.
March 19, 2023
Thorough, fascinating, and heartbreaking, Lombardo picks apart Buck v. Bell, introducing us to the actors at play behind the scenes and painting a portrait of the eugenics movement in early twentieth century America. The scope of this book goes far beyond Carrie Buck’s sterilization, but keeps returning to her as a through line.
October 9, 2021
An excellent telling of the story of Buck v. Bell and the historical context (before and after) of the eugenics movement that brought it to the Supreme Court. Gets a little dull in the middle with endless quotes expressing terrible eugenic sentiments, but picks up again at the end.
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August 27, 2023Required reading for public health and medical professionals - detailed explanation of the historical and social context surrounding the eugenics movement in the US and abroad, and the implications of laws and court cases on our current reproductive and human rights issues.
August 19, 2024
I read this book for my college major and found it really interesting and helpful. I also read the new edition which was published. This is one of the history books I found interesting to read as some history books are a bit boring yet this was interesting and factual at the same time.
November 20, 2019
Well written. His passion on this topic is contagious.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews