Picture 1 of 1

Stock photo

Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World - Picture 1 of 1

Unnatural Selection : Choosing Boys over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men by Mara Hvistendahl (2011, Hardcover)

AlibrisBooks (474884)

98.8% positive Feedback

Price:

US $60.38

Approximately£45.05

+ $15.08 postage

Estimated delivery Mon, 13 Oct - Tue, 21 Oct

Returns:

30 days return. Buyer pays for return postage. If you use an eBay delivery label, it will be deducted from your refund amount.

Condition:

New

New Hard cover

About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherPublic Affairs

ISBN-101586488503

ISBN-139781586488505

eBay Product ID (ePID)120538243

Product Key Features

Book TitleUnnatural Selection : Choosing Boys over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men

Number of Pages336 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2011

TopicGender Studies, Abortion & Birth Control

IllustratorYes

GenreSocial Science

AuthorMara Hvistendahl

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1.1 in

Item Weight19.4 Oz

Item Length9.2 in

Item Width6.1 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2011-004471

Dewey Edition22

ReviewsKirkus Review , April 15, 2011 "A hard-hitting, eye-opening study that not only paints a dire future of a world without girls but traces the West's role in propagating sex selection&. Hvistendahl's important, even-handed expos considers all sides of the argument and deserves careful attention and study.", Kirkus Review , April 15, 2011 "A hard-hitting, eye-opening study that not only paints a dire future of a world without girls but traces the West's role in propagating sex selection&. Hvistendahl's important, even-handed expos considers all sides of the argument and deserves careful attention and study." Anne-Marie Slaughter, Bert G. Kerstetter University Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University " Unnatural Selection is an important book and a fascinating read. Mara Hvistendahl is a delightful writer: witty, engaging, and acute. But the tale she tells is deeply disturbing. Asia alone is missing 160 million women and girls, a number equal to the entire female population of the United States. According to Hvistendahl, the culprit is less deeply rooted cultural gender bias than rising wealth, elite attitudes, and Western influence and technology. Development, at least for the coming decades, will produce not only fewer children overall, but also many fewer girls. The result is a future for many parts of the world, from India to China, Azerbaijan to Albania, where brides are much more likely to be bought, women are much more likely to be trafficked, and men are much more likely to be frustrated. For the present, women who are pro-choice must confront the stark reality that the availability of ultrasound and ready abortion are sharply reducing the number of women in the world." Stephen J. Dubner, author of Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics "Yes, it's a rigorous exploration of the world's 'missing women,' but it's more than that too: an extraordinarily vivid look at the implications of the problem. Hvistendahl writes beautifully, with an eye for detail but also the big picture. She has a fierce intelligence but, more important, a fierce intellectual independence; she writes with a hard edge but no venom rather, a cool and hard passion." Jonah Lehrer, author of How We Decide "A fascinating and thoroughly researched book on a most important subject. The staggering population imbalances described by Hvistendahl should be of concern to all." Judy Norsigian, Executive Director, Our Bodies Ourselves "A critically important story of demographic surprises and skewed sex ratios, trafficked wives and mail-order brides. Thanks to the devaluation of females and misused technologies, sex selection has reached staggering dimensions in recent decades. Hvistendahl's call to action is the most well-documented and compelling yet." The Wall Street Journal , June, 18, 2011 "Ms. Hvistendahl is a first-rate reporter and has filled Unnatural Selection with gripping details&. There is so much to recommend." Bloomberg , June 19, 2011 "Provocative, wide-ranging&. A thoughtful, smartly researched overview of medical developments, policymaking and cultural trends that combined to upset the global sex ratio." The Daily Beast , Eleanor Clift, June 22, 2011 "[Hvistendahl] approaches these sensitive subjects without an ideological ax to grind, whether pro-life or pro-population control, documenting how sex selection has taken hold thanks to technology, lower birth rates, and deep-seated cultural biases that require a boy to carry on a family's lineage." , "A hard-hitting, eye-opening study that not only paints a dire future of a world without girls but traces the West's role in propagating sex selection&. Hvistendahl's important, even-handed expos considers all sides of the argument and deserves careful attention and study."- Kirkus Review , April 15, 2011 " Unnatural Selection is an important book and a fascinating read. Mara Hvistendahl is a delightful writer: witty, engaging, and acute. But the tale she tells is deeply disturbing. Asia alone is missing 160 million women and girls, a number equal to the entire female population of the United States. According to Hvistendahl, the culprit is less deeply rooted cultural gender bias than rising wealth, elite attitudes, and Western influence and technology. Development, at least for the coming decades, will produce not only fewer children overall, but also many fewer girls. The result is a future for many parts of the world, from India to China, Azerbaijan to Albania, where brides are much more likely to be bought, women are much more likely to be trafficked, and men are much more likely to be frustrated. For the present, women who are pro-choice must confront the stark reality that the availability of ultrasound and ready abortion are sharply reducing the number of women in the world." -Anne-Marie Slaughter, Bert G. Kerstetter University Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University "Yes, it's a rigorous exploration of the world's 'missing women,' but it's more than that too: an extraordinarily vivid look at the implications of the problem. Hvistendahl writes beautifully, with an eye for detail but also the big picture. She has a fierce intelligence but, more important, a fierce intellectual independence; she writes with a hard edge but no venom rather, a cool and hard passion." -Stephen J. Dubner, author of Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics "A fascinating and thoroughly researched book on a most important subject. The staggering population imbalances described by Hvistendahl should be of concern to all." -Jonah Lehrer, author of How We Decide

Dewey Decimal304.6/60951

SynopsisFinalist for the Pulitzer Prize A Slate Best Book of 2011 A Discover Magazine Best Book of 2011 Lianyungang, a booming port city, has China's most extreme gender ratio for children under four: 163 boys for every 100 girls. These numbers don't seem terribly grim, but in ten years, the skewed sex ratio will pose a colossal challenge. By the time those children reach adulthood, their generation will have twenty-four million more men than women. The prognosis for China's neighbors is no less bleak: Asia now has 163 million females "missing" from its population. Gender imbalance reaches far beyond Asia, affecting Georgia, Eastern Europe, and cities in the U.S. where there are significant immigrant populations. The world, therefore, is becoming increasingly male, and this mismatch is likely to create profound social upheaval. Historically, eras in which there have been an excess of men have produced periods of violent conflict and instability. Mara Hvistendahl has written a stunning, impeccably-researched book that does not flinch from examining not only the consequences of the misbegotten policies of sex selection but Western complicity with them., Rampant sex-selective abortion has contributed to the disappearance of an estimated 160 million females from Asia's population. And gender imbalance reaches far beyond South and East Asia, affecting the Caucasus countries, Eastern Europe, and even some groups in the United States--a rate of diffusion so rapid that one prominent expert on the topic compares it to an epidemic. So many parents now select for boys that they have skewed the sex ratio at birth of the entire world. Mara Hvistendahl's expansive, impeccably-researched investigation tells a stunning story that examines not only the consequences of the misbegotten policies underlying sex selection but also the West's role in creating them., Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize A 'Slate' Best Book of 2011 A 'Discover Magazine' Best Book of 2011 Lianyungang, a booming port city, has China's most extreme gender ratio for children under four: 163 boys for every 100 girls. These numbers don't seem terribly grim, but in ten years, the skewed sex ratio will pose a colossal challenge. By the time those children reach adulthood, their generation will have twenty-four million more men than women.The prognosis for China's neighbors is no less bleak: Asia now has 163 million females "missing" from its population. Gender imbalance reaches far beyond Asia, affecting Georgia, Eastern Europe, and cities in the U.S. where there are significant immigrant populations. The world, therefore, is becoming increasingly male, and this mismatch is likely to create profound social upheaval.Historically, eras in which there have been an excess of men have produced periods of violent conflict and instability. Mara Hvistendahl has written a stunning, impeccably-researched book that does not flinch from examining not only the consequences of the misbegotten policies of sex selection but Western complicity with them.

LC Classification NumberHB1064.A3H87 2011