With and Without Galton: Vasilii Florinskii and the Fate of Eugenics in Russia

In 1865, British polymath Francis Galton published his initial thoughts about the scientific field that would become ‘eugenics.’ The same year, Russian physician Vasilii Florinskii addressed similar issues in a sizeable treatise, entitled Human Perfection and Degeneration. Initially unheralded, Flor...

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Autor principal: Krementsov, Nikolai (Author)
Formato: Online
Publicado em: Open Book Publishers 2021
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author Krementsov, Nikolai (Author)
author_browse Krementsov, Nikolai (Author)
author_facet Krementsov, Nikolai (Author)
author_sort Krementsov, Nikolai (Author)
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description In 1865, British polymath Francis Galton published his initial thoughts about the scientific field that would become ‘eugenics.’ The same year, Russian physician Vasilii Florinskii addressed similar issues in a sizeable treatise, entitled Human Perfection and Degeneration. Initially unheralded, Florinskii’s book would go on to have a remarkable afterlife in twentieth- and twenty-first-century Russia. In this lucid and insightful work, Nikolai Krementsov argues that the concept of eugenics brings together ideas, values, practices, and fears energised by a focus on the future. It has proven so seductive to different groups over time because it provides a way to grapple with fundamental existential questions of human nature and destiny. With and Without Galton develops this argument by tracing the life-story of Florinskii’s monograph from its uncelebrated arrival amid the Russian empire’s Great Reforms, to its reissue after the Bolshevik Revolution, its decline under Stalinism, and its subsequent resurgence: first, as a founding document of medical genetics, and most recently, as a manifesto for nationalists and racial purists. Krementsov’s meticulously researched ‘biography of a book’ sheds light not only on the peculiar fate of eugenics in Russia, but also on its convoluted transnational history, elucidating the field’s protean nature and its continuing and contested appeal to diverse audiences, multiple local trajectories, and global trends. It is required reading for historians of eugenics, science, medicine, education, literature, and Russia, and it will also appeal to the general reader looking for a deeper understanding of this challenging subject.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-627772022-01-31T19:34:42Z With and Without Galton: Vasilii Florinskii and the Fate of Eugenics in Russia Krementsov, Nikolai (Author) DK1-4735 Francis Galton science Vasilii Florinskii medicine USSR history biography eugenics Russia In 1865, British polymath Francis Galton published his initial thoughts about the scientific field that would become ‘eugenics.’ The same year, Russian physician Vasilii Florinskii addressed similar issues in a sizeable treatise, entitled Human Perfection and Degeneration. Initially unheralded, Florinskii’s book would go on to have a remarkable afterlife in twentieth- and twenty-first-century Russia. In this lucid and insightful work, Nikolai Krementsov argues that the concept of eugenics brings together ideas, values, practices, and fears energised by a focus on the future. It has proven so seductive to different groups over time because it provides a way to grapple with fundamental existential questions of human nature and destiny. With and Without Galton develops this argument by tracing the life-story of Florinskii’s monograph from its uncelebrated arrival amid the Russian empire’s Great Reforms, to its reissue after the Bolshevik Revolution, its decline under Stalinism, and its subsequent resurgence: first, as a founding document of medical genetics, and most recently, as a manifesto for nationalists and racial purists. Krementsov’s meticulously researched ‘biography of a book’ sheds light not only on the peculiar fate of eugenics in Russia, but also on its convoluted transnational history, elucidating the field’s protean nature and its continuing and contested appeal to diverse audiences, multiple local trajectories, and global trends. It is required reading for historians of eugenics, science, medicine, education, literature, and Russia, and it will also appeal to the general reader looking for a deeper understanding of this challenging subject. 2021-02-12T08:45:06Z 2021-02-12T08:45:06Z 2018-09-26 16:07:26 2018 book 29081 9781783745111 9781783745135 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/62777 application/octet-stream Attribution 4.0 International https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/800 https://www.openbookpublishers.com/reader/800 Open Book Publishers https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0144 https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0144 b014b543-78bd-4c3b-bc71-b68e2ac855b9 a75494fd-f247-4292-8745-b2975f98bab0 9781783745111 9781783745135 696 English open access
spellingShingle DK1-4735
Francis Galton
science
Vasilii Florinskii
medicine
USSR
history
biography
eugenics
Russia
Krementsov, Nikolai (Author)
With and Without Galton: Vasilii Florinskii and the Fate of Eugenics in Russia
title With and Without Galton: Vasilii Florinskii and the Fate of Eugenics in Russia
title_full With and Without Galton: Vasilii Florinskii and the Fate of Eugenics in Russia
title_fullStr With and Without Galton: Vasilii Florinskii and the Fate of Eugenics in Russia
title_full_unstemmed With and Without Galton: Vasilii Florinskii and the Fate of Eugenics in Russia
title_short With and Without Galton: Vasilii Florinskii and the Fate of Eugenics in Russia
title_sort with and without galton vasilii florinskii and the fate of eugenics in russia
topic DK1-4735
Francis Galton
science
Vasilii Florinskii
medicine
USSR
history
biography
eugenics
Russia
topic_facet DK1-4735
Francis Galton
science
Vasilii Florinskii
medicine
USSR
history
biography
eugenics
Russia
url 29081
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