Beauty or Statistics: Practice and Science in Dutch Livestock Breeding, 1900-2000

Author:   Bert Theunissen
Publisher:   University of Toronto Press
ISBN:  

9781487507008


Pages:   288
Publication Date:   06 March 2020
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable   Availability explained
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Beauty or Statistics: Practice and Science in Dutch Livestock Breeding, 1900-2000


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Overview

In the 1970s, scientists claimed that farm animal breeding was finally evolving from an art into a science. In their view, the switch to scientific breeding was as inevitable as the ongoing process of agricultural modernization. However, the art-to-science scenario is too simplistic to do justice to the complex dynamic that characterized the transformation of the field. The livestock breeds that take centre stage in this book dairy cattle, chickens, pigs, sheep, and horses were products of the twentieth century. The methods used by breeders to improve their animals, however, were much older. Tracing the history of practical stockbreeding, the role of Mendelism in scientific breeding, and the emergence of quantitative genetics, Beauty or Statistics shows that the story of the scientific modernization of livestock breeding can be more fruitfully analysed from the perspective of changing cultures of breeding, taking practical, commercial, normative, and aesthetic considerations into account.

Full Product Details

Author:   Bert Theunissen
Publisher:   University of Toronto Press
Imprint:   University of Toronto Press
Dimensions:   Width: 16.50cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.540kg
ISBN:  

9781487507008


ISBN 10:   1487507003
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   06 March 2020
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable   Availability explained
The supplier advises that this item is temporarily unavailable. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out to you.

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Reviews

Beauty or Statistics is a marvelous book resulting from meticulous research, and advances the broadening field of studies devoted to understanding how animal breeding has evolved after the advent of the science of genetics. - Margaret E. Derry, adjunct professor, Department of History, Associated faculty member, Campbell Centre for Animal Welfare, University of Guelph Beauty or Statistics makes a significant contribution to the histories of both science and agriculture, while all of those involved in livestock breeding over the last sixty or seventy years will find part of their life stories written here. - Paul Brassley, Department of History, University of Exeter In this deeply researched and eye-opening book, Theunissen authoritatively recounts the remarkably successful Dutch efforts in the twentieth century to improve cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens, and horses. Pursuing the interplay of science and practice, he emphasizes that the breeders paid little attention to Mendelian genetics and a good deal to indicators of inheritable quality such as conformation and intergenerational statistics. Theunissen's book is original, provocative, and altogether convincing, a game-changer for the history of modern animal breeding. - Daniel J. Kevles, Department of History, Yale University


This book offers a magnificent panorama on animal husbandry, featuring concrete discussions on dairy cattle, chickens, pigs, sheep, and horses. -- Beat Bachi, University of Zurich * <em>European Journal for the History of Medicine and Health</em> * A work of excellent scholarship that will be recommended reading for scholars interested in twentieth-century agricultural history and in the history of animal breeding and genetics. -- Tarquin Holmes * <em>History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences</em> *


This book offers a magnificent panorama on animal husbandry, featuring concrete discussions on dairy cattle, chickens, pigs, sheep, and horses. -- Beat Bachi, University of Zurich * <em>European Journal for the History of Medicine and Health</em> * A work of excellent scholarship that will be recommended reading for scholars interested in twentieth-century agricultural history and in the history of animal breeding and genetics. -- Tarquin Holmes * <em>History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences</em> * This book beautifully straddles the line between the two apparently diverse (and often divisive) attitudes to breeding, because of a deep understanding of both genetic and practical breeding methods. -- Margaret E. Derry, University of Guelph * <em>Agricultural History</em> *


Author Information

Bert Theunissen is the director of the Descartes Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, and the Chair of the History of Science Program at Utrecht University.

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