Skin Deep: Dispelling the Science of Race - Hardcover

Evans, Gavin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1786076225 ISBN 13: 9781786076229

Publisher: Oneworld Publications, 2019

Synopsis

Everything you need to know about race (but were afraid to ask). MYTH: Early Europeans were white. REALITY: The first Europeans had dark skin, black, curly hair and blue eyes. MYTH: Between 50,000 and 70,000 years ago, a ‘cognitive revolution’ led to the birth of culture in Europe. REALITY: Modern intelligence evolved tens of thousands of years earlier, leading to the birth of culture in Africa. Does racism have a rational basis in science? In Skin Deep, Gavin Evans tackles head-on the debate that has been raging on internet message boards and in academic journals. No longer limited to the fringe, race-based studies of intelligence have been discussed by thinkers such as Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson. If these studies were true, they would provide an intellectual justification for inequality and discrimination. Examining the latest research on how intelligence develops and laying out new discoveries in genetics, palaeontology, archaeology and anthropology to unearth the truth about our shared past, Skin Deep demolishes the pernicious myth that our race is our destiny and instead reveals what really makes us who we are. (Stephen Oppenheimer, author of Out of Eden: The Peopling of the World and The Origins of the British)

About this title

About the Author:

Gavin Evans was born in London and grew up in Cape Town, where he became intensely involved in the anti-apartheid struggle. He studied economic history and law before completing a PhD in political studies, writing extensively on race and racism. He lectures in the Culture and Media department at Birkbeck College, London, broadcasts regularly for the BBC World Service and is a keen marathon runner.

Review:

‘Excellent! In Skin Deep, Gavin Evans lucidly and comprehensively demolishes the rationale and evidence of the so-called “race science” employed by some of our most privileged and respected scholars.’ (Stephen Oppenheimer, author of Out of Eden: The Peopling of the World and The Origins of the British)

‘[An] extensively researched and clearly articulated work of popular scholarship.’ (Publishers Weekly)

‘This book contains a wealth of information, old and new, about race and its underlying genetics. Everyone interested in the distinction between knowledge and prejudice in this sensitive and challenging subject should read it.’ (Jonathan Bard, Emeritus Professor, University of Edinburgh, and author of Principles of Evolution)

‘Well-researched and richly rewarding, Skin Deep methodically dismantles the quackery and junk science that seeks to justify economic inequality by appeals to racial difference. Given the insidious rise of pseudoscientific racism, Skin Deep is timely and urgent, its patient scholarship a fine antidote to the quackocracy’s shrill rhetoric. In this spirit it will appeal to readers who enjoyed Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science and I Think You’ll Find It’s A Bit More Complicated Than That.’ (Robert Newman, comedian and author)

About this edition

• Publisher: Oneworld Publications
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1786076225
• ISBN 13: 9781786076229
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384