The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in America were a time of great immigration, with many hundreds of thousands coming from eastern and southern Europe. They were not welcomed by all, including many at the very uppermost echelons of society in Boston and New York. Some turned to the pseudoscience of eugenics to support their prejudices. These proponents of eugenics and the bigotry it typified were generally influential men of great means, some of whom were "scientists" – in fact, many of them had advanced degrees and wrote scholarly books which were later debunked. The author, an acclaimed historian, explores them and their "work" in great detail, and with extensive documentation.
Highly restrictive laws were passed in the House and Senate in the early 1920s to stop the flood of newcomers. Outrageous quota systems cut the former number of immigrants from Italy, the former Russian Empire, Poland, Greece and many other countries to a tiny fraction of what it once was, while favoring large numbers to immigrate from the British Isles, Germany, the Scandinavian countries, and other northern European countries with so-called "Nordic" peoples.
The lessons of that period, roughly one hundred years ago, are extremely relevant right now, in a time in which we are fighting pervasive racial inequity and other inequalities, brought to a head by the presidency of Donald Trump, which is thankfully nearing its end. America, as we all know, has a great deal of work to do to correct its path.
As the saying goes, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." I might add that those who not read or study continue to encourage ignorance. That might sound obvious, but it is all too true.
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