Nominated for the 2010 Suzanne Levinson Prize
for
Best Book in the History of the Life Sciences
for
Best Book in the History of the Life Sciences
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“Probably the most important work of history that I have or will read this year.”
Eucatastrophy |
“Chilling”
Charles Wohlforth (Orion Magazine) |
One of my three Favorite Books
of the year. Adolph Reed (Progressive Magazine) |
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“This was a page turner. It is incredibly well researched, organized, constructed, important, and relevant. This is great scholarship. It should be required reading for all Americans.” John Flaningam |
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“Spiro has accomplished a near-miraculous feat of scholarship, reconstructing from apparently purged primary sources the life and impact of a titan of American conservation who wrote Adolf Hitler's Bible.” Gray Brechin (author of Imperial San Francisco) |
SYNOPSIS
Scholars have labeled Madison Grant everything from "The nation's most influential racist" to “The greatest conservationist that ever lived.” His life illuminates early twentieth-century America as it was heading toward the American Century, and his legacy is still very much with us today, from the speeches of immigrant-bashing politicians to international efforts to arrest climate change. This insightful biography shows how Grant worked side-by-side with figures such as Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Carnegie, and John D. Rockefeller Jr., to found the Bronx Zoo, preserve the California redwoods, and save the American bison from extinction. In commemoration of his conservation efforts, the world’s tallest tree, located in northern California, was dedicated to Madison Grant.
But Madison Grant was also the leader of the eugenics movement in the United States. He popularized the infamous notion that the blond-haired, blue-eyed Nordics were the “master race” and that the state should eliminate members of inferior races who were of no value to the community. Grant’s behind-the-scenes machinations (and manipulation of scientific data) convinced Congress to enact the immigration restriction legislation of the 1920s, and his influence led many states to ban interracial marriage and sterilize thousands of “unworthy” Americans.
Although most of the relevant archival materials on Madison Grant have mysteriously disappeared over the decades, Jonathan Spiro has devoted many years to reconstructing the hitherto concealed events of Grant’s life. His astonishing feat of detective work reveals how the founder of the Bronx Zoo wound up writing the book that Adolf Hitler declared was his “bible.”
Scholars have labeled Madison Grant everything from "The nation's most influential racist" to “The greatest conservationist that ever lived.” His life illuminates early twentieth-century America as it was heading toward the American Century, and his legacy is still very much with us today, from the speeches of immigrant-bashing politicians to international efforts to arrest climate change. This insightful biography shows how Grant worked side-by-side with figures such as Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Carnegie, and John D. Rockefeller Jr., to found the Bronx Zoo, preserve the California redwoods, and save the American bison from extinction. In commemoration of his conservation efforts, the world’s tallest tree, located in northern California, was dedicated to Madison Grant.
But Madison Grant was also the leader of the eugenics movement in the United States. He popularized the infamous notion that the blond-haired, blue-eyed Nordics were the “master race” and that the state should eliminate members of inferior races who were of no value to the community. Grant’s behind-the-scenes machinations (and manipulation of scientific data) convinced Congress to enact the immigration restriction legislation of the 1920s, and his influence led many states to ban interracial marriage and sterilize thousands of “unworthy” Americans.
Although most of the relevant archival materials on Madison Grant have mysteriously disappeared over the decades, Jonathan Spiro has devoted many years to reconstructing the hitherto concealed events of Grant’s life. His astonishing feat of detective work reveals how the founder of the Bronx Zoo wound up writing the book that Adolf Hitler declared was his “bible.”
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“In this exhaustively researched biography, Spiro masterfully details Madison Grant's ideas and accomplishments with wit and style.” The Journal of the History of Biology |
“A book that should be required reading for all college students. Jonathan Spiro has written a masterpiece! His book is much more than a biography of Madison Grant. The first 100 pages alone would make a lucid book on the history of the conservation movement in the U.S., with fascinating details of who did what... Spiro has helped me to understand how an educated, caring person could have embraced the extreme racism of eugenics. He is a rare author that has created a page-turner from an exceedingly complex topic...
He is a genuine story-teller.” Paul C. Johnson |
“Spiro’s excellent book rescues Madison Grant from his obligatory paragraph in standard histories of the period with a rich and compelling biography.” Greater New York |
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“One of the most interesting books [of the year].
Spiro's biography of Grant is eye opening. It is astonishing to realize how many major American figures of the early 1900s were so rabidly racist and anti-Semitic—and perfectly willing to use the power of the state to sterilize those they saw as lesser beings. Spiro's book is fundamental to understanding how profoundly our nation has been shaped by racist and anti-Semitic ideas.” Southern Poverty Law Center |
“An outstanding book! Spiro has written an amazing book and I'm impressed on how it operates on so many levels. It is immensely readable and provides a fascinating look at how Madison Grant began as one of the chief proponents of the conservation movement yet ended up being a tremendous influence on Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. But it is far more than just a book about Grant and really gives great insight into the social history and the mindset of early 20th century America and Europe.”
Mark Johnson |
“Defending the Master Race is truly a great expose of the shocking success of the eugenics movement in this country and in Europe, a part of American history that seems to be missing in most of our history books. The author was meticulous with his documentation and clearly overcame huge obstacles in finding the information he needed. The book is so clearly and beautifully written that I found myself memorizing much of the amazing parts because I felt that this story was so vitally important to remember in this age of anti-immigration and racism. It was difficult to make myself put it down.... The seemingly schizophrenic accomplishments of Madison Grant are mindboggling.... Every American needs to know what's in this book.”
Carolyn Pollak
Carolyn Pollak
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“Spiro's portrait of Madison Grant is far more than a biography. Indeed, it is a fresh portrait of two parallel and intertwined movements: racial eugenics and natural conservation. As importantly, it is also an astonishing act of recovery, a deeply researched illumination of one of the twentieth century's most enduringly significant and deeply troubling intellectuals.”
Matthew Pratt Guterl (Indiana University) |
“In this highly readable biography, Jonathan Peter Spiro breathes life into one of America's most notorious eugenicists.” Wendy Kline (Journal of American History) |
“In spotlighting the connection between wildlife management and eugenics, Spiro has put his finger on something important. The obsession with improving breeding stock linked Grant with Hitler on the right and with other more respectable eugenicists on the left, including Margaret Sanger (who promoted birth control) and Theodore Roosevelt (who hated it).”
The New Republic |
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“Peels back layers of history to expose America's casual racism and the disturbing ways American law set the precedent for Nazi atrocities.
A superb re-introduction to one of America's most complex modern figures.” Publishers Weekly |
"Spiro has undertaken the Herculean task of recovering the ghost of the conservationist and anti-immigrant racist Madison Grant from a very limited archival record. Spiro’s biography is an invaluable resource that covers, in as much detail as possible, Grant’s life and thought."
Johannes Hendrikus Burgers (Journal of the History of Ideas) |
"An important and valuable work."
David Cullen (Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences)
David Cullen (Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences)
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"Spiro does a masterful job in rendering Grant’s life. He weaves a fascinating account [that] brings Grant alive and provides a trenchant analysis of his thinking. Based on exhaustive research … the book will stand as the best intellectual biography of this divisive and noteworthy figure."
Ronald Bayor (Journal of American Ethnic History) |
“A stunning achievement in research, while remaining both fascinating and highly readable…. This compelling biography … is a milestone in cultural and intellectual history, as well as the history of eugenics.”
Franklin K. Wyman (H-Eugenics) |
“Spiro, to whom we all owe a great debt [has produced] an admirable and detalied biography.
[It] is a fascinating book that contains a wealth of detail and is written with clarity and often humorous asides. I recommend it highly.” Garland E. Allen (Isis) |
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part I. THE EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC RACISM
Chapter 1: Big-Game Hunter
To Promote Manly Sport With the Rifle. The Yale Man. The Society of Colonial Wars. Grant, Grinnell, Roosevelt. Banning Unsportsmanlike Hunting. Stopping the Market Hunters.
Chapter 2: The Bronx Zoo
Reforming New York City. The Triumvirate Builds the Zoo. Man in the Zoo.
Chapter 3. From Conservation to Preservation
Grant the Naturalist. Game Refuges. Foiled by Pinchot. Preserving the Bison. Preserving Scenery.
Chapter 4. Wildlife Management
The Interlocking Directorate. Two “Success” Stories. The Genius of Aldo Leopold. For the Good of the Species. Defending Predators.
Chapter 5: From Mammals to Man
The Museum. Ripley at the Half Moon. Race Suicide. Grant’s Taxonomy. Aryanism.
Chapter 6. The Eugenics Creed
A Faith is Born. To the Continent. To the United States. The Appeal of Eugenics. The Coming of the Passing.
Part II. CONSERVING THE NORDICS
Chapter 7: The Passing of the Great Race
The Manifesto of Scientific Racism. The Critics Applaud. A Fine-Tooth Comb.
Chapter 8. Grant’s Disciples
The Evangelists. The American Eugenics Society. Flirting with Sanger.
Chapter 9. Creating the Refuge
Step One: The Literacy Test. Step Two: The Emergency Quota Act of 1921. Science in the Service of Politics. Step Three: The Immigration Restriction Act of 1924.
Chapter 10. Culling the Herd
Sterilization. The Negro Problem. Crippled. The Racial Integrity Act. Looking in the Mirror: Grant and Garvey.
Chapter 11: Saving the Redwoods
The "Historic Camping Trip." Organizing the League. Grove by Grove. Wooing the Peepul.
Part III. EXTINCTION
Chapter 12. Nordic and Anti-Nordic
The American Anthropological Association. The Galton Society. The National Research Council. The Revenge of the Roundheads.
Chapter 13. The Empire Crumbles
The Decline of Scientific Racism. The Third International Eugenics Congress. The Last Hurrah. Disorganization.
Chapter 14. The Ever-Widening Circle: The Third Reich
Der Untergang der Grossen Rasse. Fischer and Günther. The Sterilization Law. The Nuremberg Laws. Into the Darkness. The Next Logical Step. The New Consensus.
Epilogue: The Passing of the Great Patrician
Hunting with Goering. Charon Beckoned. Dust in the Wind.
Part I. THE EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC RACISM
Chapter 1: Big-Game Hunter
To Promote Manly Sport With the Rifle. The Yale Man. The Society of Colonial Wars. Grant, Grinnell, Roosevelt. Banning Unsportsmanlike Hunting. Stopping the Market Hunters.
Chapter 2: The Bronx Zoo
Reforming New York City. The Triumvirate Builds the Zoo. Man in the Zoo.
Chapter 3. From Conservation to Preservation
Grant the Naturalist. Game Refuges. Foiled by Pinchot. Preserving the Bison. Preserving Scenery.
Chapter 4. Wildlife Management
The Interlocking Directorate. Two “Success” Stories. The Genius of Aldo Leopold. For the Good of the Species. Defending Predators.
Chapter 5: From Mammals to Man
The Museum. Ripley at the Half Moon. Race Suicide. Grant’s Taxonomy. Aryanism.
Chapter 6. The Eugenics Creed
A Faith is Born. To the Continent. To the United States. The Appeal of Eugenics. The Coming of the Passing.
Part II. CONSERVING THE NORDICS
Chapter 7: The Passing of the Great Race
The Manifesto of Scientific Racism. The Critics Applaud. A Fine-Tooth Comb.
Chapter 8. Grant’s Disciples
The Evangelists. The American Eugenics Society. Flirting with Sanger.
Chapter 9. Creating the Refuge
Step One: The Literacy Test. Step Two: The Emergency Quota Act of 1921. Science in the Service of Politics. Step Three: The Immigration Restriction Act of 1924.
Chapter 10. Culling the Herd
Sterilization. The Negro Problem. Crippled. The Racial Integrity Act. Looking in the Mirror: Grant and Garvey.
Chapter 11: Saving the Redwoods
The "Historic Camping Trip." Organizing the League. Grove by Grove. Wooing the Peepul.
Part III. EXTINCTION
Chapter 12. Nordic and Anti-Nordic
The American Anthropological Association. The Galton Society. The National Research Council. The Revenge of the Roundheads.
Chapter 13. The Empire Crumbles
The Decline of Scientific Racism. The Third International Eugenics Congress. The Last Hurrah. Disorganization.
Chapter 14. The Ever-Widening Circle: The Third Reich
Der Untergang der Grossen Rasse. Fischer and Günther. The Sterilization Law. The Nuremberg Laws. Into the Darkness. The Next Logical Step. The New Consensus.
Epilogue: The Passing of the Great Patrician
Hunting with Goering. Charon Beckoned. Dust in the Wind.
