{"product_id":"pure-america-eugenics-and-the-making-of-modern-virginia-9781948742733","title":"Pure America: Eugenics and the Making of Modern Virginia","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLonglisted for the 2022 PEN America John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction, a riveting and tightly argued history of eugenics and its ripple effects, by acclaimed historian Elizabeth Catte.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBetween 1927 and 1979, more than 8,000 people were involuntarily sterilized in five hospitals across the state of Virginia. From this plain and terrible fact springs Elizabeth Catte's \u003cem\u003ePure America\u003c\/em\u003e, a sweeping, unsparing history of eugenics in Virginia, and by extension the United States. Virginia's eugenics program was not the misguided initiative of well-meaning men of the day, writes Catte, it was a manifestation of white supremacy. It was a form of employment insurance. It was a means of controlling troublesome women and a philosophy that helped remove poor people from valuable land. It was cruel and it was wrong. As was amply evidenced by her acclaimed 2018 book \u003cem\u003eWhat You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia\u003c\/em\u003e, Catte has no room for excuses; no patience for equivocation. What does it mean for modern America, she asks here, that such buildings are given the second chance that 8,000 citizens never got?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGrounded, well-rendered, and highly disturbing, \u003cem\u003ePure America\u003c\/em\u003e is another necessary corrective to the historical record, a must-read for anyone concerned with how to repair its damage.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eElizabeth Catte\u003c\/strong\u003e is a historian and writer living in Virginia, and the author of \u003cem\u003eWhat You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia\u003c\/em\u003e (Belt, 2018). She is an editor-at-large for West Virginia University Press and the co-founder of Passel, an applied history and consulting company. She lives in Staunton, Virginia.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Belt Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51603127337234,"sku":"9781948742733","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_8462b507-9269-4d49-ba5d-1ed3f8501025.jpg?v=1757425479","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/pure-america-eugenics-and-the-making-of-modern-virginia-9781948742733","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}