Eugenics and Other Evils

<p>G K Chesterton wrote 'Eugenics and Other Evils' over 90 years ago as a warning against the new 'science' of eugenics. It was a bold act at a time when US president Woodrow Wilson was an avid supporter of 'scientific breeding' and even Winston Churchill believed that "the multiplication of the feeble-minded cannot go on unchecked." Wielding his formidable insight and wit - and with remarkable prescience - Chesterton deconstructs the absurdities of the Eugenicist movement and points to its potential for ill-use dangers which came to their full terrible fruition in the Nazi destruction of the mentally ill and the horrors of the Holocaust. Despite its age this is a surprisingly contemporary book. Modern-day Genetics which offers tests claiming to reveal 'weaknesses' such as mental instability susceptibility to illness or a low IQ make it plain that eugenic 'solutions' are even more plausible today than when Chesterton first wrote this timely and thought-provoking analysis.</p>