Ashley Montagu, who first attacked the term 'race' as a usable concept in his acclaimed work Man's Most Dangerous Myth, offers here a devastating rebuttal to those who would claim any link between race and intelligence.
In now classic essays, this thought-provoking volume critically examines the terms 'race' and 'IQ' and their applications in scientific discourse. The 24 contributors - including such eminent thinkers as Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Lewontin and Jerome Kagan - draw on fields that range from biology and genetics to psychology, anthropology and education. What emerges in piece after piece is a deep scepticism about the scientific validity of intelligence tests, especially as applied to evaluating innate intelligence, if only because scientists still cannot distinguish between genetic and environmental contributions to the development of the human mind. Five new essays have been included that specifically address the claims made in the recent, highly controversial book, The Bell Curve.