Over at VDare, John Derbyshire reviews A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race, and Human History, a forthcoming book by chief New York Times science writer Nicholas Wade.
The book is important — a watershed, really. For the first time (that I’m aware of, at least), a major writer with impeccable Cathedral credentials brings squarely into mainstream discourse the full-blown scientific reality of human biodiversity (though apparently not without a cautious, and understandable, dispersion of what Mr. Derbyshire refers to as “squid ink”). Others have paved the way: E.O. Wilson’s 1975 book Sociobiology established a beachhead (at a personal and professional cost to Wilson that must have evoked the landings at Normandy), and Steven Pinker’s 2003 The Blank Slate secured some strategically important territory, but Wade’s book appears to be a push for the capital. It will be out on May 6th.
Read Derb’s review here.