Genomic Politics: How the Revolution in Genomic Science Is Shaping American Society

A groundbreaking analysis of how the genomic revolution is transforming American society and creating new social divisions-some along racial lines-that promise to fundamentally shape American politics for years to come.The emergence of genomic science in the last quarter century has revolutionized medicine, the justice system, and our understanding of who we are.We use genomics to determine guilt and exonerate the falsely convicted; devise new medicines; test embryos; and discover our ethnic and national roots.One might think that, given these advances, most would favor the availability of genomic tools.Yet as Jennifer Hochschild explains in Genomic Politics, the uses of genomic science are both politically charged and hotly contested.After all, genomics might result in bioterrorism, a demand for "designer babies," or a revival of racial biology. Political divisions around genomics do not follow the usual left-right ideological divides that dominate most of American politics.Through fo