
In Reckless Hands
Skinner v. Oklahoma and the Near-Triumph of American Eugenics
Victoria F. Nourse(Author)
WW Norton & Co (Publisher)
Will be published approx. on 5. September 2008
Book
Hardback
250 pages
978-0-393-06529-9 (ISBN)
Description
In the 1920s and 1930s, thousands of men and women were sterilized at asylums and prisons across America. Believing that criminality and mental illness were inherited, state legislatures passed laws calling for the sterilization of "habitual criminals" and the "feebleminded." But in 1936, inmates at Oklahoma's McAlester prison refused to cooperate; a man named Jack Skinner was the first to come to trial. A colorful and heroic cast of characters-from the inmates themselves to their devoted, self-taught lawyer-would fight the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Only after Americans learned the extent of another large-scale eugenics project-in Nazi Germany-would the inmates triumph. Combining engrossing narrative with sharp legal analysis, Victoria F. Nourse explains the consequences of this landmark decision, still vital today-and reveals the stories of these forgotten men and women who fought for human dignity and the basic right to have a family.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Paper over boards
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
604 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-393-06529-9 (9780393065299)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
07/2008
W. W. Norton & Company
€23.49
Available for download
Person
Victoria F. Nourse received her JD degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Currently the Burrus-Bascom Professor of Criminal and Constitutional Law at the University of Wisconsin, she lives in Shorewood, Wisconsin.