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Masterminding Nature
The Breeding of Animals, 1750-2010
Margaret E. Derry (Author)
9781442626522
Paperback / softback, published 18 March 2015
320 pages
22.9 x 15.4 x 2 cm, 0.48 kg
‘This is a richly informative book that draws on Derry’s academic training and long experience as practical breeder.’ ‘This is a historian with deep and personal fascination for the world of animal breeding… There is much information in this book. It can be used as a reference for the key movements, ideas and people in the history of animal breeding.’ ‘Masterminding Nature is an informative account of the various innovations that have marked the livestock industry.’ ‘Masterminding Nature is an ambitious and a valuable contribution to the literature.’ ‘The book offers a gold mine of information for historians of breeding and of the agricultural sciences more generally, and several of its overreaching themes are potentially of interest to a wider range of historians.’
In Masterminding Nature, Margaret Derry examines the evolution of modern animal breeding from the invention of improved breeding methodologies in eighteenth-century England to the application of molecular genetics in the 1980s and 1990s. A clear and concise introduction to the science and practice of artificial selection, Derry’s book puts the history of breeding in its scientific, commercial, and social context. Masterminding Nature explains why animal breeders continued to use eighteenth-century techniques well into the twentieth century, why the chicken industry was the first to use genetics in its breeding programs, and why it was the dairy cattle industry that embraced quantitative genetics and artificial insemination in the 1970s, as well as answering many other questions. Following the story right up to the present, the book concludes with an insightful analysis of today’s complex relationships between biology, industry, and ethics.
Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Artificial Selection Theory and Livestock Breeding, 1750–1900 2. Early Developments in Genetics 3. Practical Breeding via Theoretical Population Genetics 4. New Directions: Artificial Insemination Technology and Quantitative Genetics 5. Molecular Genetics, Genomics, and Livestock Breeding 6. Biology, Industry Needs, and Morality in Livestock Breeding Conclusions Notes Glossary Bibliography