The Kallikak Family

About “The Kallikak Family”

The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-Mindedness is a 1912 non-fiction book by Henry H. Goddard, an American psychologist and eugenicist. The book was dedicated to his patron, Samuel Simeon Fels. It presents a case study on the inheritance of "feeble-mindedness," a term used to describe a range of mental disabilities, including intellectual disability and learning disabilities. Goddard argued that mental traits were hereditary and that society should restrict reproduction among individuals with these traits. The book is known for containing factual errors that undermine its conclusions. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.)