In Reckless Hands: Skinner V. Oklahoma and the Near-Triumph of American Eugenics

In Reckless Hands: Skinner V. Oklahoma and the Near-Triumph of American EugenicsIn 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

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.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 07/01/2008
ISBN: 9780393065299
Pages: 240
Weight: 1.17lbs
Size: 9.25h x 6.36w x 0.95d
Award: Oklahoma Book Award - Finalist

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 05/26/2008 pg. 52
Kirkus Reviews 06/01/2008 pg. 58
Booklist 07/01/2008 pg. 21
Booklist Editors Choice/Adult 01/01/2009 pg. 7
Commonweal 04/10/2009 pg. 25