The Eugenic Marriage, Volume 4 (of 4): A Personal Guide to the New Science of Better Living and Better Babies

A troubling artifact of early 20th-century pseudo-science, this volume represents one of the most disturbing corners of American public health literature. Written by W. Grant Hague in an era when eugenics commanded serious attention in medical, political, and social circles, the book offers a window into how scientific language and selective data could be weaponized to justify rank prejudice under the guise of progressive reform. Hague presents himself as a concerned physician offering practical guidance for healthier children, but his framework rests on the premise that human worth is biologically determinable and that certain families should be encouraged to reproduce while others should be discouraged or prevented from doing so. The text details hygiene practices, childhood illness prevention, and environmental recommendations that were considered cutting-edge in their time, yet all wrapped in an ideology that would later provide intellectual fuel for forced sterilizations, immigration restrictions, and ultimately the Holocaust. For historians of medicine, public health, and the American eugenics movement, this volume serves as essential primary source material demonstrating how mainstream science once embraced ideas now universally condemned.