Nine major works that have helped create a scientific frame for racist ideas

Annalee Newitz is the author of Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction and the editor in chief of io9. One of nine major works that have helped create a scientific frame for racist ideas, as tagged at io9:

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, by Amy Chua (2011)

Like [A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History author Nicholas] Wade, Chua argues that there are certain racial groups who are just plain superior — though she would probably disagree with Wade on the specifics. While Wade thinks that the Chinese are sheeplike followers, Chua believes that her cultural inheritance has filled her with a fire of assertiveness. She's raised her daughters strictly, "the Chinese way," pushing them as hard as possible to succeed in the future. Chua contrasts her parenting with typical American parenting, which she believes is all about nurturing individuality. Though she doesn't explicitly describe the difference between Chinese and Americans in genetic terms, she does a kind of pop sociological analysis that suggests Chinese culture is superior and explains why Asian kids often succeed while their Western counterparts become aimless flakes.

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--Marshal Zeringue