Il libro riprende e approfondisce alcuni interventi divulgativi da me precedentemente pubblicati: Nicola Pende scienziato razzista, in «la Repubblica», 14 settembre 2006; Quando l’eugenetica è diventata un tabú, in «la Repubblica - Diario», 2 marzo 2007; Heil Darwin?, in «La Stampa», 8 febbraio 2009; Da Darwin a Hitler?, in «Micromega: Almanacco di Scienze. Darwin, 1809-2009», febbraio 2009; L’eredità di Alexis Carrel, in «darwin», n. 33, settembre-ottobre 2009.
Introduzione.
Per un’analisi comparativa e transnazionale dell’eugenetica: M. B. ADAMS (a cura di), The Wellborn Science. Eugenics in Germany, France, Brazil, and Russia, Oxford University Press, Oxford - New York 1990; P. M. H. MAZUMDAR, The Eugenics Movement. An International Perspective, 6 voll., Routledge, New York 2007; A. BASHFORD e P. LEVINE (a cura di), The Oxford Handbook of the History of Eugenics, Oxford University Press, Oxford - New York 2010; D. B. PAUL, The Politics of Heredity. Essays on Eugenics, Biomedicine, and the Nature-Nurture Debate, State University of New York Press, Albany 1998; ID., Controlling Human Heredity. 1865 to the Present, Humanities Press International, Atlantic Highlands 1995; I. DOWBIGGIN, Keeping America Sane. Psychiatry and Eugenics in the United States and Canada, 1880-1940, Cornell University Press, Ithaca (NY) 1997; G. BROBERG e N. ROLL-HANSEN, Eugenics and the Welfare State. Sterilization Policy in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, Michigan State University Press, East Lansing 1996; P. WEINGART, Science and Political Culture. Eugenics in Comparative Perspective, in «Scandinavian Journal of History», vol. 24 (1999), n. 2, pp. 163-77; S. KÜHL, The Nazi Connection. Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism, Oxford University Press, Oxford - New York 1994; ID., For the Betterment of the Race. The Rise and Fall of the International Movement for Eugenics and Racial Hygiene, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke - New York 2013; M. TURDA e P. J. WEINDLING (a cura di), Blood and Homeland. Eugenics and Racial Nationalism in Central and Southeast Europe, 1900-1940, Central European University Press, Budapest - New York 2007; C. PROMITZER, S. TRUBETA e M. TURDA (a cura di), Health, Hygiene and Eugenics in Southeastern Europe to 1945, Central European University Press, Budapest - New York 2011; M. TURDA e A. GILLETTE (a cura di), Latin Eugenics in Comparative Perspective, Bloomsbury, London - New York 2014.
Su eugenetica e uso pubblico della storia: D. B. PAUL, Eugenic Anxieties, Social Realities and Political Choices, in ID., The Politics of Heredity cit., pp. 95-115; ID., Controlling Human Heredity. 1865 to the Present cit., 1995; ID., On Drawing Lessons from the History of Eugenics, in L. P. KNOWLES e G. E. KAEBNICK, Reprogenetics. Law, Policy, and Ethical Issues, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2007, pp. 3-19; R. S. COWAN, Heredity and Hope. The Case for Genetic Screening, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.) - London 2008; P.-A. TAGUIEFF, Sur l’eugénisme: du fantasme au débat, in «Pouvoirs», gennaio 1991, pp. 23-64; L. KOCH, The Meaning of Eugenics. Reflections on the Government of Genetic Knowledge in the Past and the Present, in «Science in Context», vol. 17, (2004), n. 3, pp. 315-31. Prezioso anche il blog curato da Nathaniel Comfort, Genotopia (http://genotopia.scienceblog.com/).
Sul contesto italiano: L. BERLIVET, Dalla divulgazione scientifica alla propaganda eugenetica: la teoria del piano inclinato, in «Passato e Presente», vol. 93 (2014), pp. 119-28.
Sull’eugenetica come «impulso»: N. COMFORT, The Science of Human Perfection. How Genes Became the Heart of American Medicine, Yale University Press, New Haven - London 2012, pp. 240-46.
Capitolo primo.
Su Darwin e l’eugenetica, cfr. in particolare D. B. PAUL e J. MOORE, The Darwinian Context. Evolution and Inheritance, in BASHFORD e LEVINE (a cura di), The Oxford Handbook of the History of Eugenics cit., pp. 27-42.
Per un’analisi critica delle tre biografie finora pubblicate sulla figura di Galton, rimando a N. COMFORT, Zelig. Francis Galton’s Reputation in Biography, in «Bulletin of the History of Medicine», vol. 80 (2006), pp. 348-633.
Su scienza e nazismo, rimando alle riflessioni e ai corposi riferimenti bibliografici contenuti in B. GAUSEMEIER, Genetics as a Modernization Program. Biological Research at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes and the Political Economy of the Nazi State, in «Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences», vol. 40 (2010), n. 4, pp. 429-56.
Sugli esperimenti medici nazisti, lo studio piú recente e sistematico è P. J. WEINDLING, Victims and Survivors of Nazi Human Experiments. Science and Suffering in the Holocaust, Bloomsbury Academic, London - New Delhi - New York - Sidney 2014.
Sull’anatomia durante il Terzo Reich: S. HILDEBRANDT, Anatomy in the Third Reich. An outline, Part 2. Bodies for Anatomy and Related Medical Disciplines, in «Clinical Anatomy», vol. 22 (2009), n. 8, pp. 3-21; ID., How the Pernkopf Controversy Facilitated a Historical and Ethical Analysis of the Anatomical Sciences in Austria and Germany. A Recommendation for the Continued Use of the Pernkopf Atlas, ivi, vol. 19 (2006), n. 2, pp. 91-100.
Sull’«Azione T4», tra i numerosi studi, cfr. M. BURLEIGH, Death and Deliverance. «Euthanasia» in Germany 1900-1945, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994; G. ALY, Die Belasteten. «Euthanasie» 1939-1945. Eine Gesellschaftsgeschichte, S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2013.
Piú in generale, su medicina e nazismo, cfr. ROBERT J. LIFTON, The Nazi Doctors. Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide, Basic Books, New York 1986 (trad. it. I medici nazisti. La psicologia del genocidio, Rizzoli, Milano 1988); R. N. PROCTOR, Racial Hygiene. Medicine under the Nazis, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.) 1988; G. ALY, P. CHROUST e C. PROSS, Cleansing the Fatherland. Nazi Medicine and Racial Hygiene, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1994; P. J. WEINDLING, Epidemics and Genocide in Eastern Europe, 1890-1945, Oxford University Press, Oxford - New York 2000; ID., Nazi Medicine and the Nuremberg Trials. From Medical War Crimes to Informed Consent, Palgrave-Macmillan, Basingstoke - New York 2004; «Revue d’histoire de la Shoah», numero monografico Classer/Penser/Exclure. De l’eugénisme à l’hygiène raciale, a cura di R. Thalmann, Y. Ternon, G. Bensoussan, n. 183, luglio-dicembre 2005; C. BONAH, A. DANONGRILLIAT, J. OFF-NATHAN e N. SCHAPPACHER, Nazisme, Science et Médecine, Éditions Glyphe, Paris...