Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men
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Become an affiliateStephen 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."
"Hvistendahl has a keen sense of detail, and her book is filled with lively encounters with the doctors, academics and bachelors who, she argues, all play a part in the changing demographics worldwide. Her research only gains in importance as these imbalanced generations, where men outnumber women by as much."
Globe and Mail, July 1, 2011
"Brave, well researched and imminently controversial.... From the distant vista of the West, where we don't really consider what it would mean to have an only son who can never find a mate, the unbalanced sex ratio in Asia may seem like relatively small news. This remarkable book goes a long way to bringing the pain and the urgency of the issue home. Mara Hvistendahl is not just entering an important conversation, she's starting one." the dogged self-destruction of a braggadocio crippled by the conviction of his own superiority."Washington Post, July 3, 2011
"Massively well-documented.... [Hvistendahl] has written a disturbing, engrossing book."
Evening Standard (UK), July 21, 2011 "A well-researched account of how a preference for boys has made sex selective abortion commonplace in Asia and parts of Eastern Europe... Hvistendahl makes a persuasive case for the West being complicit in the spread of sex-selective abortion."
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 exposé 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
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."
New York Times, Ross Douthat, June 26, 2011
"Unnatural Selection reads like a great historical detective story, and it's written with the sense of moral urgency that usually accompanies the revelation of some kind of enormous crime."Marcy Darnovsky "Ms. Blog", June 7, 2011
"An important contribution, disturbing but gripping, and challenging to all of us, perhaps especially to U.S. advocates of reproductive justice. It provides both a deep understanding of the staggering dimensions and consequences of sex selection, and an urgent prod to confront it." The Daily Brief, June 12, 2011