In Reckless Hands: Skinner v. Oklahoma and the Near-Triumph of American Eugenics

I have just finished reading "In Reckless Hands". It is a remarkable book. It manages to combine extensive and impeccable research, a clear and transparent ethical sense, and an eminently readable writing style - a feat all too rare in authors, academic or otherwise. It took an enormous effort for the author to write this book. In doing so, she has given us all a treasured gift.

I picked this up hoping for a clearer understanding of why SKINNER did not overturn BUCK v. BELL. My interest is in the eugenics movement in the U.S., and--more specifically--in what cautionary tales we should learn from our own dark history that might deter us from over-zealous embrace of genetic technologies to cure social ills. Nourse certainly provided me with an explanation of why SKINNER did not overturn BUCK v. BELL, and she also provided valuable insights into the larger social factors that held eugenics in place--the Depression and fear of crime, as well as the more familiar anti-immigrant fervor that arouse with industrialization--and began to weaken its hold (no, it was not JUST horror at the Nazi experience). The book is of potential interest and value to people with a wide variety of interests and competences. For a book that delves as far as it does into technical judicial interpretation, it is quite accessible. I am contemplating using it for a Science and Values course, and look forward to seeing how students respond to it. Meanwhile, I am sending it as a holiday present to several friends, and recommend that course of action.

I didn't think there were too many bits of Oklahoma history that I hadn't at least heard of . . . until I ran across a blurb about the German atrocities in World War II and except for a Supreme Court case in Oklahoma similar events "could" have taken place in the U.S. I was fascinated and shocked when I read this book to realize how close we were walking a similar path, maybe not for the same reasons but so many were convinced that eugenics, or at least the form of denying "undesirables" to procreate, was the answer to the decline of the world. Although many states had laws or guidelines for unwanted sterilization Oklahoma became the battleground for stopping it when some prisoners at McAlester and some local lawyers took their case all the way to the Supreme Court. I also discovered that Jack Skinner, the prisoner who was the focus of the lawsuit, even went to the same high school I did (although quite a few years before!) The book is excellent although a little tedious is spots for this reader because of the legalistic terms but it's something that's necessary. A must read for any Oklahoma history student or anyone else that appreciates the social development of this country.

This book on such a monumental, but to the lay person, unfamiliar, case was wonderfully written. Starting it Sunday afternoon was not a wise decision since it made closing the pages for sleep Sunday night very difficult. Fortunately I had time today to finish. There is great attention to detail, dedication to making "legalese" easily understood by all, and an unassuming tone of writing.

This book is a history of the Supreme Court case of Skinner v. Oklahoma (1942), in which the Court threw out the state's law authorizing mandatory sterilization of "habitual criminals." The author does a solid job outlining the history of the Oklahoma statute, the legal proceedings before the case reached the Court, and the legal strategies employed by the state and Skinner. Along the way the reader learns quite a lot about the eugenics movement in this country in the early to mid 20th century, and how this concept had made its appearance in other countries, such as Nazi Germany for example. The author, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin and Emory, also discusses Holmes' famous decision in the earlier case of Buck v. Bell (1927) involving the mandatory sterilization of mentally defective individuals. The author is very good in explaining concepts to the general reader, one mark of an effective case history. What is quite striking, in addition, is the author's extensive attention to contemporary press material, law review articles, and other secondary sources. As she explains in her "Acknowledgements and Method," she practices "dirty history," i.e., devoting much time (and substantial effort) to examining local archives in conjunction with her more traditional legal analysis. The combination of the two approaches proves quite effective. All of this is spelled out in 29 pages of extensive notes which help to make the picture complete. The result is an outstanding example of how case histories ought to be written.