The Race Myth: Why We Pretend Race Exists in America [Paperback]

“Graves’ integration of science and objective analysis with popular biological assumptions of race makes this an enlightening and provocative work.”—Booklist

DOES RACE AS WE KNOW IT REALLY EXIST?

Preeminent evolutionary biologist Joseph Graves proves once and for all that it doesn’t. Through accessible and compelling language, he makes the provocative argument that science cannot account for the radical categories used to classify people, and debunks ancient race-related fallacies that are still held as fact, from damaging medical profiles to misconceptions about sports. He explains why defining race according to skin tone or eye shape is woefully inaccurate, and how making assumptions based on these false categories regarding IQ, behavior, or predisposition to disease has devastating effects.

Demonstrating that racial distinctions are in fact social inventions, not biological truths, The Race Myth brings much-needed, sound science to one of America’s most emotionally charged debates. Graves’ integration of science and objective analysis with popular biological assumptions of race makes this an enlightening and provocative work. —Booklist

Sharply argued. —San Jose Mercury News

[A] provocative new analysis. —Philadelphia Tribune

“Graves is adept at simplifying complex ideas—such as natural selection, sexual selection and genetic distance—so they can easily be understood by readers with only a passing familiarity with the basics of biology. And his first chapter, in which he uses evidence from the human genome project to prove that there is only one race of human beings and explailƒ"