Imbeciles

"Though most Americans are familiar with Nazi Germany’s horrific eugenics program, it’s less well known that, in 1927, Oliver Wendell Holmes, a polymath and justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, championed forced sterilization as a way to “protect” the U.S. gene pool. In Imbeciles, author Adam Cohen details the landmark high court decision that led to the state mandated sterilization of up to 70,000 Americans. Connecting the dots from Charles Darwin, to faux science, to misguided immigration anxiety, Cohen recounts the compelling tale of Carrie Buck, the plaintiff in the court case, who was sterilized after the state of Virginia deemed her “feebleminded.” The Nazis borrowed from the U.S. eugenics program, Cohen warns, and, to this day, Buck v. Bell has never been officially overturned."

"Imbeciles, by Adam Cohen, is another spectacular law-related book, built around the Supreme Court forced-sterilization case, Buck v. Bell."