Racial Hygiene

Science collapses when scientists ignore objectivity and unbiased analysis, and Robert N. Proctor argues this effectively in this book.

I had long assumed (incorrectly) that racial doctrine during the Third Reich came directly from Hitler, but many German scientists actively espoused racial policies with supposed scientific justification. It may be hard to accept that some scientists became sympathizers overnight, no doubt for their own welfare and survival.

Proctor illustrates that pure science can be adapted for evil intent and that a self-centered agenda can result in illegitimate outcomes. 

This World War II book on Nazi racial "science" opened my eyes to the corruption of science to serve the nefarious purposes of Nazi racial policy.

For me, this book was deeply informative in a medical humanities sense. Robert Proctor has provided a service to readers and to the historical record by bringing this story to light with such a clear and careful rendering of the facts.