100 books like The Black Stork

By Martin S. Pernick,

Here are 100 books that The Black Stork fans have personally recommended if you like The Black Stork. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Facing Eugenics: Reproduction, Sterilization, and the Politics of Choice

C. Elizabeth Koester Author Of In the Public Good: Eugenics and Law in Ontario

From my list on how eugenics came to Canada.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a lapsed lawyer who decided as an empty-nest project to take a few history of medicine courses just for fun. One thing led to another and I found myself with a PhD and a book about eugenics and law to my name. I love the history of medicine. It connects us right back to the cavemen who worried about the same things we worry about today – illness, injury, our bodies, reproduction, death, dying. The history of eugenics is really a part of that history and it is filled with laws – coerced reproductive sterilization, marriage restrictions based on so-called “fitness,” etc. So it's a perfect union of my background and my newfound love. 

C.'s book list on how eugenics came to Canada

C. Elizabeth Koester Why did C. love this book?

This is the most important book to read if you want to understand (a) eugenics generally and (b) how it played out in Alberta, the part of Canada where these ideas got the most traction. Dyck is a great historian, but even better, she does not forget that history is about real people. Her history is detailed and thorough, but it is not dry. She uses all kinds of interesting sources including courtroom evidence and personal records to bring the issues to life. She also moves the story forward by writing about abortion in the 1970s and 1980s and shows us in a very thought-provoking way the connections between eugenic “fitness” and our notions of “disability” today.

By Erika Dyck,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Facing Eugenics as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Facing Eugenics is a social history of sexual sterilization operations in twentieth-century Canada. Looking at real-life experiences of men and women who, either coercively or voluntarily, participated in the largest legal eugenics program in Canada, it considers the impact of successive legal policies and medical practices on shaping our understanding of contemporary reproductive rights. The book also provides deep insights into the broader implications of medical experimentation, institutionalization, and health care in North America. Erika Dyck uses a range of historical evidence, including medical files, court testimony, and personal records to place mental health and intelligence at the centre of…


Book cover of Growing a Race: Nellie L. McClung and the Fiction of Eugenic Feminism

C. Elizabeth Koester Author Of In the Public Good: Eugenics and Law in Ontario

From my list on how eugenics came to Canada.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a lapsed lawyer who decided as an empty-nest project to take a few history of medicine courses just for fun. One thing led to another and I found myself with a PhD and a book about eugenics and law to my name. I love the history of medicine. It connects us right back to the cavemen who worried about the same things we worry about today – illness, injury, our bodies, reproduction, death, dying. The history of eugenics is really a part of that history and it is filled with laws – coerced reproductive sterilization, marriage restrictions based on so-called “fitness,” etc. So it's a perfect union of my background and my newfound love. 

C.'s book list on how eugenics came to Canada

C. Elizabeth Koester Why did C. love this book?

Nellie McClung, one of the “famous five,” is a well-known name in Canadian history for her role in fighting for the vote for women. But it turns out she was also a eugenicist. This book does a great job of knitting those two elements together and explaining not just why so many early feminists also believed in eugenic principles but how those principles were part of the same thinking. One of the challenges in understanding eugenics is answering the question of how it was that ideas, which we find repugnant today, had such power a hundred years ago. Devereux’s Introduction is one of the best things I have read to help grapple with that question.

By Cecily Devereux,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Growing a Race as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A controversial study of the alleged racism in the fiction of Nellie McClung


Book cover of Keeping America Sane: Psychiatry and Eugenics in the United States and Canada, 1880 1940

C. Elizabeth Koester Author Of In the Public Good: Eugenics and Law in Ontario

From my list on how eugenics came to Canada.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a lapsed lawyer who decided as an empty-nest project to take a few history of medicine courses just for fun. One thing led to another and I found myself with a PhD and a book about eugenics and law to my name. I love the history of medicine. It connects us right back to the cavemen who worried about the same things we worry about today – illness, injury, our bodies, reproduction, death, dying. The history of eugenics is really a part of that history and it is filled with laws – coerced reproductive sterilization, marriage restrictions based on so-called “fitness,” etc. So it's a perfect union of my background and my newfound love. 

C.'s book list on how eugenics came to Canada

C. Elizabeth Koester Why did C. love this book?

It is important when trying to understand eugenics in Canada to compare how it played out in this country to its trajectory elsewhere. This helps us understand what the commonalities were in the ideas and also to see how and where specific environments resulted in local incarnations of these ideas. Dowbiggin does this for us with great insight by writing comparatively about psychiatry and eugenics in Canada and the U.S. I knew that psychiatrists had enthusiastically taken up the eugenic cause but this book explains really well how and why this happened on both sides of the border, showing us that the profession’s general support for eugenics was not necessarily (or only) because of the ideas themselves, but for professional and status-building reasons.

By Ian Robert Dowbiggin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Keeping America Sane as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

What would bring a physician to conclude that sterilization is appropriate treatment for the mentally ill and mentally handicapped? Using archival sources, Ian Robert Dowbiggin documents the involvement of both American and Canadian psychiatrists in the eugenics movement of the early twentieth century. He explains why professional men and women committed to helping those less fortunate than themselves arrived at such morally and intellectually dubious conclusions.

Psychiatrists at the end of the nineteenth century felt professionally vulnerable, Dowbiggin explains, because they were under intense pressure from state and provincial governments and from other physicians to reform their specialty. Eugenic ideas,…


Book cover of The Persons Case: The Origins and Legacy of the Fight for Legal Personhood

C. Elizabeth Koester Author Of In the Public Good: Eugenics and Law in Ontario

From my list on how eugenics came to Canada.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a lapsed lawyer who decided as an empty-nest project to take a few history of medicine courses just for fun. One thing led to another and I found myself with a PhD and a book about eugenics and law to my name. I love the history of medicine. It connects us right back to the cavemen who worried about the same things we worry about today – illness, injury, our bodies, reproduction, death, dying. The history of eugenics is really a part of that history and it is filled with laws – coerced reproductive sterilization, marriage restrictions based on so-called “fitness,” etc. So it's a perfect union of my background and my newfound love. 

C.'s book list on how eugenics came to Canada

C. Elizabeth Koester Why did C. love this book?

This book should be made into a movie! Yes, it is written by two legal historians and yes, it is about a court case, but it reads like a thriller. Great characters, twists and turns in the plot, prime ministers, feisty ladies, the whole nine yards. It is the story of how a British court decided that women were “persons” and thus could be appointed to the Canadian Senate. At the time, only certain “persons” were eligible and only men were considered “persons.” It is not about eugenics, but the events take place around 1929 and the authors do a great job of explaining what Canadian society was like then. This helps us appreciate why the ground was so fertile for eugenic ideas and why women like the “persons” involved in the story were also eugenicists.

By Robert J. Sharpe, Patricia I. McMahon,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Persons Case as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

On 18 October 1929, John Sankey, England's reform-minded Lord Chancellor, ruled in the Persons case that women were eligible for appointment to Canada's Senate. Initiated by Edmonton judge Emily Murphy and four other activist women, the Persons case challenged the exclusion of women from Canada's upper house and the idea that the meaning of the constitution could not change with time. The Persons Case considers the case in its political and social context and examines the lives of the key players: Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, and the other members of the "famous five," the politicians who opposed the appointment of…


Book cover of Take All of Us

Marissa Eller Author Of Joined at the Joints

From my list on disabled 2024 debut YA authors.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m passionate about these books and authors because I’m also a disabled author whose debut young adult novel is coming out this year. We formed the 2024 Debuts group in mid-2022, so we’ve been there for each other through many ups and downs along our individual and collective journeys to publication. Our disabilities add another layer of complexity to that, and we’ve found comfort and solidarity in each other. Many of them are friends, and I couldn’t be prouder to share their incredible books with you. As we approach Disability Pride Month, I hope you consider adding a book written by a disabled author to your TBR!

Marissa's book list on disabled 2024 debut YA authors

Marissa Eller Why did Marissa love this book?

I’m a total baby about horror, but I love this book. Its description as an “unbury your gays” story had me from the start. As you'll soon see, I’m biased by my relationship with all of these authors, but that bias is possibly reflected the most in this book’s place on this list.

Everything else is pretty much in my lane, rom-coms and lively friendship stories, but this book speaks to a different part of my psyche. Zombies, horror, and undead anything is usually not for me, but Natalie Leif’s debut is just that convincing. Whether it beats or not, this book has heart. 

By Natalie Leif,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Take All of Us as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

A YA unbury-your-gays horror in which an undead teen must find the boy he loves before he loses his mind and body.

Five years ago, a parasite poisoned the water of Ian’s West Virginia hometown, turning dozens of locals into dark-eyed, oil-dripping shells of their former selves. With chronic migraines and seizures limiting his physical abilities, Ian relies on his best friend and secret love Eric to mercy-kill any infected people they come across.

Until a new health report about the contamination triggers a mandatory government evacuation, and Ian cracks his head in the rush. Used to hospitals and health…


Book cover of Life's Dominion: An Argument About Abortion, Euthanasia, and Individual Freedom

David E. Guinn Author Of Handbook of Bioethics and Religion

From my list on the role of religion in the public realm.

Why am I passionate about this?

Throughout my life, I have been fascinated by religion, initially in struggling with individual belief and later with its place within the social and political world. As a bioethicist, I studied and worked with patients and practitioners as they dealt with religious and moral concerns in healthcare. Then, as an international human rights advocate, educator, and governance development practitioner, I engaged with people of faith and secularists in the struggle to protect human rights and dignity as well as to attempt to promote peacebuilding in the post-conflict areas in which I worked, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Cote d’Ivoire.

David's book list on the role of religion in the public realm

David E. Guinn Why did David love this book?

In trying to exclude religion from the public sphere, most critics argue that religion precludes reasoned discussion: that secular arguments are rational and religious arguments are not.

Ronald Dworkin correctly recognizes that arguments over moral issues ultimately rest upon personal values, whether expressed in secular or religious terms. I love how he brilliantly breaks down arguments over such emotionally and morally controversial issues as abortion and euthanasia and then tries to identify the values relied on by both sides in how they attempt to justify their position.

In doing so, he makes two critical points: first, fundamental secular beliefs ultimately rest upon a religious-like understanding of the world, and second, in engaging with the thoughtful believer and secularist, it is possible to find common values. He uses the idea of the "sacredness of life" as one such meeting point shared by each.

By Ronald Dworkin,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Life's Dominion as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Internationally renowned lawyer and philosopher Ronald Dworkin addresses the crucially related acts of abortion and euthanasia in a brilliantly original book that examines their meaning in a nation that prizes both life and individual liberty. From Roe v. Wade to the legal battle over the death of Nancy Cruzan, no issues have opened greater rifts in American society than those of abortion and euthanasia. 
At the heart of Life's Dominion is Dworkin's inquest into why abortion and euthanasia provoke such controversy. Do these acts violate some fundamental "right to life"? Or are the objections against them based on the belief…


Book cover of The Origins of Nazi Genocide: From Euthanasia to the Final Solution

David Livingstone Smith Author Of Making Monsters: The Uncanny Power of Dehumanization

From my list on dehumanization and the impact of this phenomenon.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have an international reputation as an expert on dehumanization. I have researched this subject for the past fifteen years, and have written three books and many articles, and given many talks on it, including a presentation at the 2012 G20 economic summit. I believe that dehumanization is an extremely important phenomenon to understand, because it fuels the worst atrocities that human beings inflict upon one another. If phrases like "never again" have any real meaning, we need to seriously investigate the processes, including dehumanization, that make such horrific actions possible.

David's book list on dehumanization and the impact of this phenomenon

David Livingstone Smith Why did David love this book?

Many people are unaware that the Nazi genocide of Jews and Roma was built on their earlier mass extermination of disabled people, beginning with children. The killing methods used in places like Auschwitz and Treblinka were pioneered in the murder of many thousands of people with physically and mentally disabled people, whom members of the German medical profession referred to as “life unworthy of life” and “useless eaters.” This book by a distinguished Holocaust scholar meticulously documents the journey from the first child killed on Hitler’s orders to the inferno of the Polish extermination camps.

By Henry Friedlander,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Origins of Nazi Genocide as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Tracing the rise of racist and eugenic ideologies, Henry Friedlander explores how the Nazi programme of secretly exterminating the handicapped and disabled evolved into the systematic destruction of Jews and Gypsies. He describes how the so-called euthanasia of the handicapped provided a practical model for the later mass murder, thereby initiating the Holocaust. The Nazi regime pursued the extermination of Jews, Gypsies and the handicapped based on a belief in the biological, and thus absolute, inferiority of those groups. To document the connection between the assault on the handicapped and the Final Solution, Friedlander shows how the legal restrictions and…


Book cover of The Amazing Afterlife of Animals: Messages and Signs From Our Pets On The Other Side

Amy Lee Kite Author Of Goodbye, Gus

From my list on children and adults coping with the loss of a pet.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ever since I was a young girl, I always turned to writing to work through anything that was happening in my life, ranging from the first time I experienced loss to my parents’ divorce. I have since published three children’s books on tough topics as I have aimed to provide parents, children, and teachers with tools to discuss loss and change. My most recent book, Goodbye, Gus is specifically about the loss of a pet. My dad died when I was 21, and that was the first death (other than my dogs) that I ever experienced. I was able to experience first-hand the fact that the loss of my pets helped prepare me to cope with grief, and I also learned that we can all focus on what we did have and hang on to those memories forever. 

Amy's book list on children and adults coping with the loss of a pet

Amy Lee Kite Why did Amy love this book?

I chose this comforting, spiritual book, which is about a concept that I wonder about myself — an afterlife. The idea that those we love can still connect with us after they exit this life is something I want to believe and is something that certainly provides me with comfort. The stories that this author shares offer so much help and enable us to feel closer to our pets who we have sadly lost. Ever since reading this book, I have seen more signs that enable me to believe that the bond I have with dogs I have lost can still be as strong as ever today. 

By Karen A. Anderson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Amazing Afterlife of Animals as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

#1 Bestseller & Winner of 16 National and International Literary Awards

If you are grieving the loss of your beloved pet the uplifting and insightful stories within these chapters will help you break through your grief so you can begin healing. Included are actual messages from departed animals who share details about what they experienced as their life ended and from beyond the veil of the afterlife. 

You will discover how pets feel about dying, euthanasia, cremation, reincarnation and so much more.

Award-winning Animal Communicator and Afterlife Expert, Karen Anderson, reveals tantalizing evidence that our pets communicate with us throughout…


Book cover of Debating Euthanasia

Raphael Cohen-Almagor Author Of The Right to Die with Dignity: An Argument in Ethics, Medicine, and Law

From my list on medical ethics and end-of-life.

Why am I passionate about this?

Raphael Cohen-Almagor, DPhil, St. Catherine’s College, University of Oxford, is Professor of Politics, Olof Palme Visiting Professor, Lund University, Founding Director of the Middle East Study Centre, University of Hull, and Global Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Raphael taught, inter alia, at Oxford (UK), Jerusalem, Haifa (Israel), UCLA, Johns Hopkins (USA), and Nirma University (India). With more than 300 publications, Raphael has published extensively in the field of political philosophy, including Liberal Democracy and the Limits of Tolerance; Challenges to Democracy; The Right to Die with Dignity; The Scope of Tolerance; Confronting the Internet's Dark Side; Just, Reasonable Multiculturalism, and The Republic, Secularism and Security: France versus the Burqa and the Niqab.

Raphael's book list on medical ethics and end-of-life

Raphael Cohen-Almagor Why did Raphael love this book?

The book brings together two contradictory viewpoints.

While Jackson argues that we should legalise assisted suicide in order to enable ‘good death’ and honour patients’ wishes, Keown opposes such a legislation, thinking that voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are gravely unethical and what we need to do is to improve care, not to offer death.

This is an excellent exchange of ideas that I have used in my classes on end-of-life concerns.

John Keown and I meet in Washington every once and a while. Although we disagree on whether physician-assisted suicide should be offered, we agree on the need to preserve the dignity of the person as well as on many other fundamental issues.

I greatly appreciate John’s scholarship.

By Emily Jackson, John Keown,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Debating Euthanasia as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this new addition to the 'Debating Law' series, Emily Jackson and John Keown re-examine the legal and ethical aspects of the euthanasia debate.

Emily Jackson argues that we owe it to everyone in society to do all that we can to ensure that they experience a 'good death'. For a small minority of patients who experience intolerable and unrelievable suffering, this may mean helping them to have an assisted death. In a liberal society, where people's moral views differ, we should not force individuals to experience deaths they find intolerable. This is not an argument in favour of dying.…


Book cover of Diseases of The Goat

Cheryl K. Smith Author Of Goat Health Care

From my list on keeping your goats healthy.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have raised miniature dairy goats since 1998 and encountered many health issues in my goats and those of friends. Only one mainstream book on raising my goats existed when I got them. I decided to write my own book. That plan was put on hold when I became publisher of Ruminations magazine. I frequently wrote about goat health care and reviewed new goat books as they came out. In 2009, I published my book, a comprehensive compilation of articles from Ruminations. Afterwards, I wrote Raising Goats for Dummies. Not many studies are done on goats, but each book has added to the body of knowledge regarding goat health care.

Cheryl's book list on keeping your goats healthy

Cheryl K. Smith Why did Cheryl love this book?

This book is comprehensive and divided into different disease categories. It is written in a way that is accessible to most goat owners and covers initial assessment, causes, signs, diagnosis, and treatment for each disease.

The last chapter addresses surgical techniques, which I haven’t had to refer to much but could be very helpful to goat farmers without access to a veterinarian.

By John G. Matthews,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Diseases of The Goat as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Diseases of the Goat, 4th Edition, is a revised and updated edition of the popular tool for veterinarians featuring of all aspects of goat medicine-from initial assessment and examination to diagnosis, treatment, and control of conditions. This highly practical, concise handbook is designed for frequent reference, and is suitable for all those treating and keeping goats.

Provides information on to predators, euthanasia, post-mortem technique, and fracture repair Includes expanded coverage of a number of topics to appeal to a wider and more international audience especially in relation to poisonous plants Incorporates the impact of new developments in goat diseases, such…


Book cover of Facing Eugenics: Reproduction, Sterilization, and the Politics of Choice
Book cover of Growing a Race: Nellie L. McClung and the Fiction of Eugenic Feminism
Book cover of Keeping America Sane: Psychiatry and Eugenics in the United States and Canada, 1880 1940

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Interested in eugenics, Canada, and presidential biography?

Eugenics 22 books
Canada 450 books