Eugenics and Other Evils
By G. K. Chesterton, first published in 1922
| Author | G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) |
|---|---|
| First published | 1922, by Cassell and Company, London1 |
| Read it free | Project Gutenberg has a transcription. The Internet Archive has a scan of the 1922 printing. |
| Copyright | Public domain in the US, as a work published before 19312 |
G. K. Chesterton’s 1922 case against the eugenics movement, which he says proposes “to control some families at least as if they were families of pagan slaves.”3 Most of his notes date from before World War I, when eugenics was “the topic of the hour.”4
Why it’s here
The first Apologetics Library carried this book, and old links still point to it. This site keeps to the Bible and the resurrection, so I link to a free copy here.
A caution
Some of its language about race is dated. In one passage Chesterton calls the Bolshevist “a Jewish intellectual of the town.”5 That’s an ugly stereotype, and I don’t defend it.
Sources
- G. K. Chesterton, Eugenics and Other Evils (London: Cassell and Company, 1922), title page, as transcribed by Project Gutenberg. ↩︎
- Peter B. Hirtle, “Copyright Term and the Public Domain,” Cornell University, updated January 1, 2026. ↩︎
- Chesterton, Eugenics and Other Evils, Part I, Chapter I, “What Is Eugenics?” ↩︎
- Chesterton, Eugenics and Other Evils, “To the Reader.” ↩︎
- Chesterton, Eugenics and Other Evils, Part II, Chapter VIII, “The End of the Household Gods.” ↩︎