In this groundbreaking book, Joseph Graves traces the development of thought about human genetic diversity.
He argues that racism has persisted in our society because adequate scientific reasoning has not entered into the
equation. Graves champions the scientific method, and explains how we may properly ask questions about the nature
of population differentiation and how (if at all) we may correlate that diversity to differences in human capacity
and behavior. He also cautions us to think critically about scientific findings that have historically been misused
in controversies over racial differences in intelligence heritability, criminal behavior, disease predisposition,
and other traits. Greek philosophy, social Darwinism, New World colonialism, the eugenics movement, intelligence
testing biases, and racial health fallacies are just a few of the topics he addresses.
According to Graves, this country cannot truly address its racial problems until people understand that separate
human races do not exist empirically. With the biological basis for race removed, racism becomes an ideology, one
that can and must be expunged.