Review by Choice Review
Though the title of this book ends with a question mark, the goal is to show that the answer must be in the affirmative. The work fits well in the tradition of postmodernism--the effects, if not goals, of which have been to dismantle the claims of science as objective and rational interpretations of natural phenomena. The book offers careful and critical analyses of social sciences in which race considerations enter or have entered. All too frequently, some social scientists and journalists have, wittingly or unwittingly, fallen prey to their deep-seated prejudices in their scientific/scholarly writings on history, anthropology, Darwinism, and race. Distinctions among the physical, biological, and social sciences are mentioned but misleadingly absent in the book's title. This could lead unsuspecting readers with previous anti-science biases to imagine that their views of science are vindicated by this book. This thoughtful contribution to the never-ending debates on race should enlighten both scientists and lay readers about the racism that is latent in so many domains of human activity and inquiry. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --Varadaraja V. Raman, Rochester Institute of Technology
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
