The Science and Politics of Race in Mexico and the United States, 1910–1950

“A very well written and thoughtful analysis of a complex and difficult body of social theory and policy. This book will prove to be of great interest to a wide number of readers, including intellectual historians, Latin Americanists, and historians of both the social and natural sciences.”—U.S. Intellectual History Book Reviews

“In this history of the collaboration between social scientists in Mexico and the US, Rosemblatt (history, Univ. of Maryland) deftly explores the intricate connections between social science research, eugenics, changing racial concepts, and government policies toward indigenous peoples. . . . Highly recommended.”—CHOICE

“Rosemblatt points the way forward, opening up new venues to explore in terms of shared political views and cultural and scientific linkages between two countries whose histories are clearly more connected than is generally assumed.”—Isis

“A crucial contribution to the new literature on the transnational dimensions of post-revolutionary nation-building. . . . [and] the literature on US-Latin American relations. . . . One ï¬\x81nishes the book thoroughly convinced by its central thesis: a national frame greatly distorts our understanding of race and science in the period. This deeply-researched book is necessary reading for researchers in a number of interlocking ï¬\x81elds.”—Journal of Contemporary History

“Rosemblatt deftly explores how notions of race, modernity, pluralism, and social change were mobilized by Mexican and U.S. social scientists dedicated to the project of reconciling racial and cultural difference with liberal progress. . . . Rosemblatt’s careful and clear-eyed treatment of these dynamics, as well as of the complicated ways in which scientiï¬\x81c ideas about race translated into state policies (and vice versa) make this book a signiï¬\x81cant contribution to the historiography of race in North America and to a transnational historiography of social science generally.”—Ethnic and Racial Studies

“An exemplary work that shows the promise of transnational intellectual history. . . . Deftly researched and concisely written, Rosemblatt’s study is a model of scholarship and required reading for those interested in the ways in which the science and politics of race became interminably entangled in twentieth-century North America and how that legacy continues to shape understandings of social difference.”—Bulletin of Latin American Research

“Rosemblatt’s work advances our understanding about how so-called experts in Mexico and the United States established epistemological origins of race by looking in both directions across the Rio Bravo/Grande border to their counterparts and related social examples. . . . A fine work that has broad application and relevance well beyond its Mexican-US context.'.”—Canadian Journal of History

“A fascinating study of racial thinking and policy making in the United States and Mexico during the early twentieth century. . . . A deeply illuminating study.”—Journal of American History

“Offers a much-needed study on the intellectual networks established by Mexican and U.S. scholars.”—American Historical Review

“An extensive and deeply nuanced history about the importance of ideas of diversity and unity among transnational networks of intellectuals and state actors in north America. . . . Thorough, insightful and nicely penned.”—Journal of Latin American Studies