Drawing on startling new evidence from the mapping of the genome; an explosive new account of the genetic basis of race and its role in the human story Fewer ideas have been more toxic or harmful than the idea of the biological reality of race; and with it the idea that humans of different races are biologically different from one another. For this understandable reason; the idea has been banished from polite academic conversation. Arguing that race is more than just a social construct can get a scholar run out of town; or at least off campus; on a rail. Human evolution; the consensus view insists; ended in prehistory.Inconveniently; as Nicholas Wade argues in A Troublesome Inheritance; the consensus view cannot be right. And in fact; we know that populations have changed in the past few thousand years—to be lactose tolerant; for example; and to survive at high altitudes. Race is not a bright-line distinction; by definition it means that the more human populations are kept apart; the more they evolve their own distinct traits under the selective pressure known as Darwinian evolution. For many thousands of years; most human populations stayed where they were and grew distinct; not just in outward appearance but in deeper senses as well.Wade; the longtime journalist covering genetic advances for The New York Times; draws widely on the work of scientists who have made crucial breakthroughs in establishing the reality of recent human evolution. The most provocative claims in this book involve the genetic basis of human social habits. What we might call middle-class social traits—thrift; docility; nonviolence—have been slowly but surely inculcated genetically within agrarian societies; Wade argues. These “values†obviously had a strong cultural component; but Wade points to evidence that agrarian societies evolved away from hunter-gatherer societies in some crucial respects. Also controversial are his findings regarding the genetic basis of traits we associate with intelligence; such as literacy and numeracy; in certain ethnic populations; including the Chinese and Ashkenazi Jews.Wade believes deeply in the fundamental equality of all human peoples. He also believes that science is best served by pursuing the truth without fear; and if his mission to arrive at a coherent summa of what the new genetic science does and does not tell us about race and human history leads straight into a minefield; then so be it. This will not be the last word on the subject; but it will begin a powerful and overdue conversation.
#151467 in Books Buruma Ian 2014-09-30 2014-09-30Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.30 x 1.00 x 5.50l; 1.00 #File Name: 0143125974384 pagesYear Zero A History of 1945
Review
89 of 92 people found the following review helpful. Engrossing; HIghly Readable HistoryBy Phyllis S.; NYCI enjoy history; but not dry history. My interest is in the interplay of character and historical circumstances and in social history--the human angle. This book very much appealed to me. It is less about geopolitics than about people adjusting to the changed situation they found themselves in after the defeat of Germany and Japan in World War II. The author presents an interesting and detailed portrait of the world in 1945. He makes the story a bit more personal by discussing the life of his own father; a Dutch national who was carted off to perform forced labor in Germany.This is the world seen through an extremely wide view lens; so I won't try to summarize everything in the book but just mention a few aspects that stand out for me. I found it striking how Ian Buruma pointed to the seeds of both successful change and contemporary conflicts sown in 1945. Somehow; the United States managed to do some crucial things right in both Germany and Japan. The Americans were sometimes misguided and ignorant; but they were not particularly vengeful. There was a lucky mesh between democratic capitalism; which the U.S. tried to foster; and the cultures of the two conquered nations. The relative prosperity and stability of Germany and Japan obviously owes a great deal to this.Turning to the question of refugees; the author clarifies a currently relevant and heartbreaking; fact about the Jewish survivors of the concentration camps. No existing nation wanted these people. The fact that Israel was originally a life boat for shipwrecked survivors is too often forgotten now.To his great credit; Buruma often focuses on the situation of women during and after the war. The widespread rapes--by Japanese troops of women in Asian countries Japan conquered; by Russian troops in Germany--are rarely spoken of nowadays. Buruma does not shrink from this subject; and the reader may be stunned by the incredible barbarism. The book also contains an interesting discussion of fraternization after the war. Former enemies sometimes fell in love; and sometimes got married. Sometimes they just used each other--and it could be a disturbingly unequal exchange between conqueror and conquered.This book held my interest the way a good novel might and it taught me a great deal about subjects I thought I was fairly well versed in. It is one of the best works of history I've read in recent years. Highly recommended.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. We all need to read this book and learn what really happened after World War IIBy Barbara ArdingerPopular mythology says that the world became nearly--and magically--perfect after the end of World War II. In Europe; the followers of Hitler and Mussolini were defeated; tried; executed....and all was right with the world. Not true! Ian Buruma takes begins with his father's story (he was a prisoner) and then writes about the hypocrisy of the victors--the U.S.A.; Britain; the Soviet Union; and (eventually) France. Asia wasn't much different. We're taught to think that 1945 was the beginning of a new age. Read this book and see the roots of the Cold War and the 1950s and beyond. What's happening in the world today began in 1945.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. and how these global efforts still shape our thinking about what is good; and where we are goingBy Cynthia GehrieI learned about the way the world came to an end in the second world war; then began again. I thought of all the US History classes that somehow run out of time and rush through the first and second world war. With this book; I came to understand the terms by which the new world was created; and how these global efforts still shape our thinking about what is good; and where we are going.I realized that these plans demilitarized strong current allies; while not anticipating the rise of new aggressive military power; particularly in the Middle East. We are still grappling with how to manage nuclear weapons.
