Genetic Crossroads

"Genetic Crossroads is a shining example of how to write multi-scalar, multi-sited, and multi-lingual histories of science. Few scholars are able to balance the contradictory pulls of the global and the local; Elise Burton shows how they can be effectively braided together without sacrificing critique, complexity, or context."—Projit Bihari Mukharji, University of Pennsylvania

"Deeply researched and powerfully written, Genetic Crossroads is one of the most original books I have read in a decade. Burton's unique history of Middle Eastern genetics is a fascinating study of genetic nationalism and the global hierarchies of such scientific inquiry, and a must-read for historians of all fields."—Eve M Troutt Powell, University of Pennsylvania

"Drawing on sources in four Middle Eastern languages and from underused Western archives, Elise Burton explains why the Middle East was so pivotal for global genetics. Exemplifying how to integrate area studies and global history, Genetic Crossroads is a true tour de force."—Cyrus Schayegh, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva

"Genetic Crossroads exposes how technical and scientific projects about human ethnicity underpinned nationalist ideologies across the twentieth century. Burton introduces a novel angle to established debates, showing how scientific researchers nourished racial mythologies, and how those mythologies drove the researchers themselves. She draws disparate literatures into a single intervention, extending isolated national stories through her integrative original research. The book is remarkable for its breadth of coverage in time, space, and language; every reader will find something that engages their area of curiosity or expertise."—Committee for the Nikki Keddie Book Award, sponsored by the Middle East Studies Association

"Genetic Crossroads: The Middle East and the Science of Human Heredity by Elise Burton, is a sweeping history of 'genetic nationalism' in the 20th century covering Iran, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, Egypt and other Arab countries."—Usman Butt, Middle East Monitor

"It is difficult to do justice to this exceptional endeavor. The advantages of the integrative thematic approach adopted by Burton are numerous. Most importantly, it allows the book to be both deeply contextual on some significant levels, and yet driven by a strong argument, by strong structuring hypotheses. Its implied periodization is derived from this combination of context and content. It makes room for sophisticated many-layered comparisons, for complex plot. The book affords both a generalized perspective and delves into great detail on specific issues."—Snait B. Gissis, History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences

"Genetic Crossroadsis a brilliant book that will surely become a milestone in the study of the global science of human genetics. In putting to use her dual expertise in Middle Eastern studies and the history of science, Burton provides an unprecedented perspective on themes, such as race and ancestry, that are re-dimensioned and relocated in their relevance to others."—Isis: A Journal of the History of Science Society