How to Argue With a Racist: What Our Genes Do (and Don't) Say About Human Difference

by Adam Rutherford

Overview

This authoritative debunking of racist claims that masquerade as “genetics” is a timely weapon against the misuse of science to justify bigotry—now in paperback

Race is not a biological reality.
Racism thrives on our not knowing this.

In fact, racist pseudoscience has become so commonplace that it can be hard to spot. But its toxic effects on society are plain to see: rising nationalism, simmering hatred, lost lives, and divisive discourse. Since cutting-edge genetics are difficult to grasp—and all too easy to distort—even well-intentioned people repeat stereotypes based on “science.” But the real science tells a different story: The more researchers learn about who we are and where we come from, the clearer it becomes that our racial divides have nothing to do with observable genetic differences. The bestselling author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived explains in this explosive, essential guide to the DNA we all share.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781615198306
Publisher:	The Experiment
Publication date:	09/14/2021
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	4.90(w) x 7.30(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Adam Rutherford is a geneticist, science writer, and broadcaster. He studied genetics at University College London, and during his PhD on the developing eye, he was part of a team that identified the first known genetic cause of a form of childhood blindness. As well as writing for the science pages of The Guardian, he has written and presented many award-winning series and programs for the BBC, including the flagship weekly Radio 4 program Inside Science, The Cell for BBC Four, and Playing God (on the rise of synthetic biology) for the leading science series Horizon. He is also the author of How to Argue With a Racist, an incisive guide to what modern genetics can and can’t tell us about human difference; The Book of Humans, a new evolutionary history that explores the profound paradox of the “human animal”; A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in nonfiction; and Creation, on the origin of life and synthetic biology, which was short-listed for the Wellcome Book Prize.

Editorial Reviews

"A counter-blast to those who would use science to justify prejudice."

Tom Gatti

"Lucid, enlightening, witty, and delightful."

Kate Fox

"Essential reading in an age of false science, resurgent racism, and conspiracy theory—and the perfect antidote to racial bigotry."

Simon Sebag Montefiore

"An International Bestseller
One of New Scientist’s 13 Best Science and Technology Books of 2020
A Goodreads Choice Awards Best Book of 2020, Science & Technology, Runner Up
One of BBC Science Focus Magazine’s 28 Best Nonfiction Books of 2020
One of Big Think’s 10 Best Science and Technology Books of 2020
A Daily Telegraph Book of the Year

"A fascinating and timely refutation of the casual racism on the rise around the world. The ultimate anti-racism guide."

Caroline Criado Perez

"Smashes race myths that plague society."

Layal Liverpool

An International Bestseller •  One of New Scientist’s 13 Best Science and Technology Books of 2020 •  A Goodreads Choice Awards Best Book of 2020, Science Technology, Runner Up •  One of BBC Science Focus Magazine’s 28 Best Nonfiction Books of 2020 •  One of Big Think’s 10 Best Science and Technology Books of 2020• A Daily Telegraph Book of the Year

“A fascinating and timely refutation of the casual racism on the rise around the world. The ultimate anti-racism guide.”—Caroline Criado Perez, author of Invisible Women

“A fascinating debunking of racial pseudoscience . . . engaging and enlightening.”—Manjit Kumar, The Guardian

“Nobody deals with challenging subjects more interestingly and compellingly than Adam Rutherford, and this may be his best book yet. This is a seriously important work.”—Bill Bryson
 
“This book [shows] that race is biologically meaningless and that modern genetic science is a racist’s worst enemy, [revealing] that you are related to royalty, that every Nazi had Jewish ancestors and that you share no DNA with half your ancestors. An essential book on a critical issue.”—David Olusoga, professor of public history at the University of Manchester
 
“Smashes race myths that plague society.”—Layal Liverpool, New Scientist
 
“[Proves] that the concept of ‘race’ has no basis in science . . . an excellent overview of human genetics.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
“A book that could save lives.”—Kathryn Paige Harden, The Spectator

“Rutherford equips readers with the tools to discredit the prejudices of both racists and well-intentioned people. Despite its fraught history, scientists’ understanding of genes has long since converged on one truth: race, while very real as a social construct, has no foundation in science.”—Scott Hershberger, Scientific American
 
“Short but impactful. . . . Rutherford’s work provides ample ammunition to anyone wishing to use science to combat racial stereotypes.”—Publishers Weekly

“Bringing together compelling stories, irreverent humor, and informed science reporting, Rutherford debunks some of the most pernicious myths and fallacies about race. . . . Recommended. All readers.”—Choice

“Essential reading in an age of false science, resurgent racism, and conspiracy theory—and the perfect antidote to racial bigotry.”—Simon Sebag Montefiore, historian and author of The Romanovs
 
“As timely as it is invigorating and important.”—Peter Frankopan, professor of global history at the University of Oxford
 
“Lucid, enlightening, witty, and delightful.”—Kate Fox, codirector of the Social Issues Research Centre
 
“A counter-blast to those who would use science to justify prejudice.”—Tom Gatti, New Statesman
 
“Timely and accessible.”—The Bookseller, Editor’s Choice

“Remarkable. . . . The reader is provided the fascinating scientific weaponry to confidently take on questions about race, genes, ancestry. Ultimately, Rutherford’s book is a challenge against the manipulation, misrepresentation, and abuse of science to justify hatred and prejudice.”—Big Think

“Urgently relevant. . . . Many nations have seen an efflorescence of anti-racist reading lists. Rutherford’s book is rightfully on them.”—Alondra Nelson, Nature

“Rutherford offers a general audience a compelling scientific refutation of racist claims that still enjoy wide circulation.”—Literary Review of Canada

“A timely discussion on how to counter racist arguments from a scientific point of view. . . . Rutherford systematically deconstructs where and how [racist] biases arose . . . and why the science actually does not support these claims.”—Shelf Awareness

“Rutherford debunks [racism] brilliantly. What he shows, carefully and in detail, is that genetics, properly understood, doesn’t support any of this disgusting nonsense.”—UnHerd
 
“[Rutherford] is an excellent science communicator. His toolkit arrives at an opportune time, when open expression of bigotry is increasingly pushing its way into popular discourse. . . . Highly recommend.”—Greg Laden, American Scientist

“Don’t get frenetic when racists cite genetics: just use hard science to prove them wrong.”—Evening Standard
 
“Poignant. . . .  A 21st-century manifesto for understanding human evolution and variation related to race. It is also a timely weapon against the misuse of science to justify bigotry and casual racism.”—Cosmopolitan
 
“Adam Rutherford is the perfect writer to arm you with evidence.”—Claudia Hammond, author of Time Warped

“Doubtlessly one of the most important reads of the year. But it’s arguably the most interesting too . . . engaging and thought-provoking throughout.”—Thomas Ling, BBC Science Focus Magazine

From the Publisher

"Bringing together compelling stories, irreverent humor, and informed science reporting, Rutherford debunks some of the most pernicious myths and fallacies about race. . . . Recommended. All readers."

Choice

02/24/2020

Rutherford (The Book of Humans), a geneticist at University College London, addresses this short but impactful volume to the question of what his discipline has to say about racial difference. His thesis is expressed clearly and concisely: “Neither race nor racism has foundations in science.” Taking on four tendentious arguments, Rutherford effectively dismantles each. Skin color, he explains, is “a superficial route to an understanding of human variation, and a very bad way to classify people.” “Racial purity is a pure fantasy” in humans, given that “people have moved around the world throughout history and had sex wherever and whenever they could.” He finds a genetic component to success in sports, but one far outweighed by cultural aspects. On the other hand, he can find precious little data linking genetic differences between populations to differences in intelligence. While Rutherford relies on cutting-edge research to substantiate his points, he is not an apologist for everything scientific, recognizing the errors and racism present in the work of previous researchers. Rutherford’s work provides ample ammunition to anyone wishing to use science to combat racial stereotypes. Agent: Will Francis, Janklow. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"Nobody deals with challenging subjects more interestingly and compellingly than Adam Rutherford, and this may be his best book yet. This is a seriously important work."

Bill Bryson

"This book [shows] that race is biologically meaningless and that modern genetic science is a racist’s worst enemy, [revealing] that you are related to royalty, that every Nazi had Jewish ancestors and that you share no DNA with half your ancestors. An essential book on a critical issue."

David Olusoga

"A fascinating debunking of racial pseudoscience . . . engaging and enlightening."

Manjit Kumar

"As timely as it is invigorating and important."

Peter Frankopan

"A book that could save lives."

Kathryn Paige Harden

"Timely and accessible."

Editor’s Choice The Bookseller

"Rutherford equips readers with the tools to discredit the prejudices of both racists and well-intentioned people. Despite its fraught history, scientists’ understanding of genes has long since converged on one truth: race, while very real as a social construct, has no foundation in science."

Scott Hershberger

Part history lesson about racism and part in-depth science lesson, this audiobook is relevant and thought-provoking. Author/narrator Adam Rutherford's delivery is calm and measured. He shares his own background and experiences, and ties in numerous current events to address the need for science to push back against those who use biology, particularly genetics, to justify racism. While this audiobook isn’t very long and Rutherford doesn't offer any tactics to be used against racists, he provides a lot to consider. Listeners will find the content interesting and timely. K.S.M. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2020 - AudioFile

2020-02-07
An earnest review proving that the concept of “race” has no basis in science.

The title is misleading because it implies that, confronted with the evidence, a typical white supremacist will admit the error of his or her ways. Sadly, countless scientific studies have proven that deeply held beliefs are usually impervious to facts. Regardless, British science writer and geneticist Rutherford, author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived (2017), writes a lucid history of Homo sapiens, emphasizing that 200,000 years of wandering, breeding, and wandering again has jumbled our DNA so thoroughly that we have become a single species with a great deal of genuine though not terribly consequential variation. “Racial purity is a pure fantasy,” writes the author. “For humans, there are no purebloods, only mongrels enriched by the blood of multitudes.” This didn’t prevent dominant cultures—e.g., the Chinese for millennia as well as the Romans and Aztecs—from taking their superiority for granted. Skin color played almost no role until the Age of Exploration, when white Europeans encountered societies that, lacking Western technology, were easy to exploit, often to brutal ends. Since almost all of the members of these societies had dark skin, that seemed a proxy for their weakness. After the scientific revolution in the 17th century, research overturned many nonsensical beliefs, but scholars still can’t explain why, with few exceptions, it missed the boat on skin color. Great thinkers, including Linnaeus, Kant, Voltaire, and others, expressed confidence in black inferiority, and 19th-century anthropology remained in the dark ages. In the 20th century, genetics came to the rescue by proving that far more variation exists within than between traditional races and that many racists beliefs are based on explanations that don’t involve genes. Rutherford admits that refuting the pseudo-scientific arguments of racial ideologues is futile, but he spends a great deal of time doing so; hopefully, readers are open to his arguments.

The author offers few crushing debating points but an excellent overview of human genetics.

Kirkus Reviews