Provides an overview of over two thousand years of human thought on the subject of heredity, and considers how scientific progress came about Considers the ways in which understandings of heredity of the past were used to shape social hierarchies and oppress elements of society due to their gender or race Highlights the implications of our modern understanding of genetics and the important ethical challenges that we will need to confront in the immediate future Part of the Very Short Introductions series - over eight million copies sold worldwide