Research Catalog
Imbeciles : the Supreme Court, American eugenics, and the sterilization of Carrie Buck
- Title
- Imbeciles : the Supreme Court, American eugenics, and the sterilization of Carrie Buck / Adam Cohen.
- Author
- Cohen, Adam (Adam Seth)
- Publication
- New York : Penguin Press, 2016.
Items in the Library & Off-site
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2 Items
| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | JFE 17-6202 | Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 |
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | JFE 16-3853 | Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 |
Details
- Description
- 402 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations; 25 cm
- Summary
- Describes a dark moment in American history, when the Supreme Court agreed, in 1927, to support eugenic sterilization for "undesirables," including epileptics and the "feebleminded," resulting in the sterilization of seventy thousand Americans. --Publisher's description.
- "One of America's great miscarriages of justice, the Supreme Court's infamous 1927 Buck v. Bell ruling made government sterilization of "undesirable" citizens the law of the land. New York Times bestselling author Adam Cohen tells the story in Imbeciles of one of the darkest moments in the American legal tradition: the Supreme Court's decision to champion eugenic sterilization for the greater good of the country. In 1927, when the nation was caught up in eugenic fervor, the justices allowed Virginia to sterilize Carrie Buck, a perfectly normal young woman, for being an "imbecile." It is a story with many villains, from the superintendent of the Dickensian Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded who chose Carrie for sterilization to the former Missouri agriculture professor and Nazi sympathizer who was the nation's leading advocate for eugenic sterilization. But the most troubling actors of all were the eight Supreme Court justices who were in the majority--including William Howard Taft, the former president; Louis Brandeis, the legendary progressive; and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., America's most esteemed justice, who wrote the decision urging the nation to embark on a program of mass eugenic sterilization"--
- Subjects
- Involuntary sterilization > Law and legislation
- Buck, Carrie, 1906-1983
- HISTORY / United States / 20th Century
- LAW / Legal History
- Involuntary sterilization > Law and legislation > United States
- United States
- Trials, litigation, etc
- Buck, Carrie, 1906-1983 > Trials, litigation, etc
- Virginia
- LAW / Civil Rights
- Involuntary sterilization > Law and legislation > Virginia
- Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200 (1927)
- Eugenics > Law and legislation > United States
- Trials
- Genre/Form
- Trials, litigation, etc.
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 329-382) and index.
- Contents
- Carrie Buck -- Albert Priddy -- Albert Priddy -- Harry Laughlin -- Harry Laughlin -- Aubrey Strode -- Aubrey Strode -- Oliver Wendell Holmes -- Oliver Wendell Holmes -- Carrie Buck.
- Call Number
- JFE 16-3853
- ISBN
- 9781594204180 (hardback)
- 1594204187 (hardback)
- LCCN
- 2015044207
- OCLC
- 911171862
- Author
- Cohen, Adam (Adam Seth), author.
- Title
- Imbeciles : the Supreme Court, American eugenics, and the sterilization of Carrie Buck / Adam Cohen.
- Publisher
- New York : Penguin Press, 2016.
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 329-382) and index.
- Connect to:
- Indexed Term
- Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200 (1927)
- Research Call Number
- JFE 16-3853JFE 17-6202
