M HKA Ensembles

Book, 26 x 23 x 3 cm.

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp.

Madison Grant, The Passing of the Great Race: or, the Racial Basis of European History, 1916
Published by Charles Scribner's Sons
First edition
Collection M HKA, Antwerp

Madison Grant (1865-1937) was an American writer and zoologist known primarily for his work as a eugenicist. His elaborate work on racial hygiene The Passing of the Great Race or the Racial Basis of European History is considered one of the most influential books in the 20th-century tradition of scientific racism. The subtitle of the book refers to the key theory promoted by Grant – the superiority of the Nordic race and its responsibility for human development. In the first part of the book Grant argues for the preservation of America as a Nordic race territory, consisting of Nordic immigrants from the founding stock of Anglo-Saxons and other Nordics from north-western Europe. The second part provides an extensive categorisation of the three European races: Nordic, Alpine and Mediterranean through the analysis of their history, and physical and mental characteristics. A strong advocate of racial inequality and rankings, Grant assumes that the achievements of Mediterranean civilisation of Antiquity were only possible due to admixture with Nordics. In Grant’s theory, the lowest position is assigned to the Alpines. Other ideas in this work include segregation of lower/unfavourable races in ghettos. He also warns that the expansion of non-Nordic race types into the Nordic system of freedom would lead to the subjection of the Nordic community.