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A Troublesome Inheritance: Nicholas Wadeâ•Žs Botched Interpretation Of Human Biology Volume 86 | Issue 3 Article 5 2014 A Troublesome Inheritance: Nicholas Wade’s Botched Interpretation of Human Genetics, History, and Evolution Agustín Fuentes University of Notre Dame, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol Recommended Citation Fuentes, Agustín (2014) "A Troublesome Inheritance: Nicholas Wade’s Botched Interpretation of Human Genetics, History, and Evolution," Human Biology: Vol. 86: Iss. 3, Article 5. Available at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol86/iss3/5 A Troublesome Inheritance: Nicholas Wade’s Botched Interpretation of Human Genetics, History, and Evolution Abstract Review of A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History, by Nicholas Wade. New York: Penguin Press, 2013. x + 278 pp. 978-1-5942-0446-3 (hardcover). US $27.95. Keywords . This open access article is available in Human Biology: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol86/iss3/5 book review A Troublesome Inheritance: Nicholas Wade’s Botched Interpretation of Human Genetics, History, and Evolution Agustín Fuentes1 A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History, by Nicholas Wade. New York: Penguin Press, 2014. x + 278 pp. 978-1-5942-0446-3 (hardcover). US $27.95. umans are still evolving, genetic sequences evolutionary biology (see Marks 1995, 2010). Rather are important, and populations of humans than actually acknowledging the copious, and cur- Hdifffer from one another in many ways, rent, scientifijic research on human genetic variation including patterns of allelic variation. These facts that contradicts his assertions, Wade reviews, and are not debatable; they are true—but none of them rejects, only the protests of Jared Diamond and are accurately discussed or represented in Nicholas assertions by Richard Lewontin. Wade does make Wade’s book A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, minimal reference to the offfijicial statements on Race and Human History. race by the American Association of Physical An- Wade argues that there are defijinable and thropologists and the American Anthropological genetically identifijiable groups we can describe Association; he simply disregards them by reassert- and label as biological races in humans today. He ing his belief that looking at genetics gives us clear does not provide a consistent defijinition for what racial assignment. he means by “race” or a specifijic number of races Despite being publicly challenged by numerous that we have (he indicates three, fijive, and seven as biological anthropologists, geneticists, and evolu- options). Wade suggests that believing in biologi- tionary biologists on the specifijics of the data and cal races (especially African, Caucasian, and East his interpretations (see, e.g., Marks 2014; Fuentes Asian) is both common sense and solid science. 2014; Rafff 2014), Wade has been adamant in his He asserts that evolved diffferences in these races refusal to interact with any assertions, articles, are the key explanation for social diffferences in data, or analyses that in any way problematize his histories, economies, and trajectories in societies; simplistic, and erroneous, position. His approach why “Chinese society difffers profoundly from Eu- is particularly dangerous as his justifijication for this ropean society, and both are entirely unlike a tribal position is that he is a defender of truth and that African society” (123). Wade argues that it is racial a cabal of left-leaning academics are obfuscating (genetic) diffferences and separate evolutionary reality with oppressive, even fascistic, denials of histories that help us understand why humans are the truth about race. the way they are. Since the publication of his book, the core In making these assertions, Wade ignores the of Wade’s responses to his (many) critics have majority of data and conclusions from anthro- been that they (1) are trying to repress the true pology, population genetics, human biology, and state of knowledge about racial variation, (2) have 1Department of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame. E-mail: [email protected]. Human Biology, Summer 2014, v. 86, no. 3, pp. 215–220. Copyright © 2015 Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan 48201 216 ■ Fuentes poor academic reputations and/or do less than as a result of the last ~50,000 years of human acclaimed work and are worried that their careers evolution. These points are both wrong, and I will would be derailed if biological races were true, and/ briefly outline why. or (3) “are heavy on unsupported condemnations of First, Wade’s botched understanding of genet- the book, and less generous with specifijic evidence” ics: Wade states there are defijinable genetic races (Wade 2014). but offfers no substantive defijinition. Wade uses None of these assertions are valid, and in fact, the words cluster, population, group, race, subrace, Wade is using them as a smoke screen to avoid and ethnicity without defijinitions and occasionally actual scientifijic debate on the claims made in his interchangeably throughout the book. He does book. And it works. Charles Murray, coauthor with assert that particular “clusters of variation” equal Richard Herrnstein of the controversial book The races but never gives a scientifijically assessable Bell Curve (1994), wrote a glowing review in the Wall defijinition for these “clusters”—he simply states Street Journal (Murray 2014) championing Wade that if you lump all humans by their genetic varia- as the voice of reason against a sea of left-leaning tion you get specifijic clusters, and that these clusters lying academics, and Jared Taylor of the hypercon- “always correspond to the fijive continental races” servative and openly racist magazine American (97) (meaning African, East Asian, Caucasian, Renaissance, congratulated Wade on his blow to the Australian, and Native American). fascist left that is academia (Taylor 2014). Wade thinks that a focus exclusively on the Wade’s tactic is particularly dangerous in the variation on coding regions of the human genome public arena, as many readers do not have access will get us answers. But he does not recognize that to the wide range of current genomic and evolu- humans have only about 19,000 genes (many fewer tionary data and theory and do not understand than many less complex forms of life) and that the complexities and rigor of the peer-reviewed even within these regions there is much variation publication process by which data are assessed and in structure. For example, Ezkurdia et al. (2014) disseminated. Wade’s line of obfuscation in this recently reported on a large collection of regions regard plays on the fact that most of the general of the genome previously thought to be coding re- public have little context with which to assess gions, concluding that “most genes in the potential whether Nicholas Wade, with his 50-year-old de- non-coding set have multiple non-coding features, gree in biology and no peer-reviewed publications little or no evidence of transcript expression, no or research experience, has the skill and knowledge detected peptides, and a reading frame conserva- set to engage with many of his critics who are tion that fijits non-coding genes more closely than current researchers and educators in the fijields on coding genes” (18). We know that “genes” don’t do which Wade writes. This is not to say that science anything by themselves; epigenetics and complex writers can’t offfer excellent and groundbreaking metabolic and developmental systems are at play contributions or that only experts in a given area in how bodies work (Buchanan et al. 2009). So can be participants in such discussions. It is to say while “genes” matter, they are only a small part that, if one does venture into a scientifijic topic and of the whole evolutionary picture, and focusing make very strong assertions about a complex data just on DNA segments won’t get you what Wade set, one should not avoid direct engagement with implies it will. those whose research and teaching are in that In the book Wade refers to a sampling of recent very area. genetic studies (including ~23 articles published But Wade does not engage; he avoids chal- since 2000) to support his “cluster of variation” lenges and presents a sloppy, erroneous, and highly idea of genetic races. But he repeatedly glosses over prejudiced view of human genetics and evolution. key points, misrepresents the fijindings in some of Wade makes two assertions that underlie all of his the studies cited, and wholly ignores an enormous arguments: (a) humans are divided into genetically body of literature that challenges his assertions identifijied “continental races” (or three, or fijive, or (see, e.g., Templeton 2013; Edgar and Hunley 2009; seven, depending on where you are in the book); Weiss and Long 2009; Xing et al. 2009; Marks 1995; and (b) there are signifijicant diffferences in geneti- among many others). cally based social behaviors between these “races” We know that humans all share 100% of the Review of Wade, A Troublesome Inheritance ■ 217 same genes and 99.9% of variation, and that the (how many clusters you get) can be rather arbitrary vast majority of DNA that varies is not in coding (see Rosenberg et al. 2002, plus responses and regions themselves and is not directly shaped by commentary). But Wade ignores this wrinkle of natural selection the way Wade suggests it is. We complexity, and in a clear example of his disinclina- know that most variation is due to gene flow and tion to engage with any research that complexifijies genetic drift, so the farther apart two populations his perspective, he ignores the argument in an are, the more likely they are to have more difffer- article he cites that counters his view of three (or ences (isolation by distance); we also know that fijive or seven) clear racial clusters by arguing for 14 most of the variation in our entire species is found clusters, six of which are in Africa alone (Tishkofff in populations just in Africa, with all the variation et al.
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