
Pure America
Eugenics and the Making of Modern Virginia
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $13.75
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Jo Anna Perrin
-
By:
-
Elizabeth Catte
About this listen
Between 1927 and 1979, more than 8,000 people were involuntarily sterilized in five hospitals across the state of Virginia. From this plain and terrible fact springs Elizabeth Catte's Pure America, a sweeping, unsparing history of eugenics in Virginia, and by extension the United States. Virginia's 20th-century eugenics program was not the misguided initiative of well-meaning men of the day, says Catte, with clarity and ferocity. It was a manifestation of white supremacy. It was a form of employment insurance. It was a means of controlling "troublesome" women and a philosophy that helped remove poor people from valuable land. It was cruel, and it was wrong, and yet today sites where it was practiced like Western State Hospital, in Staunton, Virginia, are rehabilitated as luxury housing, their histories hushed up in the service of capital.
As was amply evidenced by her acclaimed 2018 book What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia, Catte has no room for excuses; no patience for equivocation. What does it mean for modern America, she asks here, that such buildings are given the second chance that 8,000 citizens never got? And what possible interventions can be made now, repair their damage?
©2021 Elizabeth Catte (P)2021 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Imbeciles
- The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck
- By: Adam Cohen
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imbeciles is the shocking story of Buck v. Bell, a legal case that challenges our faith in American justice. A gripping courtroom drama, it pits a helpless young woman against powerful scientists, lawyers, and judges who believed that eugenic measures were necessary to save the nation from being “swamped with incompetence.”
-
-
Compelling Concept, Aggravating Execution
- By Gillian on 04-05-16
By: Adam Cohen
-
What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia
- By: Elizabeth Catte
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia is a frank assessment of America's recent fascination with the people and problems of the region. The audiobook analyzes trends in contemporary writing on Appalachia, presents a brief history of Appalachia with an eye toward unpacking Appalachian stereotypes, and provides examples of writing, art, and policy created by Appalachians as opposed to for Appalachians. The audiobook offers a much-needed insider's perspective on the region.
-
-
Stop trying to make us fit into your ideology
- By Anonymous User on 03-08-19
By: Elizabeth Catte
-
Hitler's American Model
- The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law
- By: James Q. Whitman
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nazism triumphed in Germany during the high era of Jim Crow laws in the United States. Did the American regime of racial oppression in any way inspire the Nazis? The unsettling answer is yes. James Whitman presents a detailed investigation of the American impact on the notorious Nuremberg Laws, the centerpiece anti-Jewish legislation of the Nazi regime.
-
-
Did not we suspect this?
- By dessa on 11-04-18
By: James Q. Whitman
-
The Guarded Gate
- Bigotry, Eugenics and the Law That Kept Two Generations of Jews, Italians, and Other European Immigrants out of America
- By: Daniel Okrent
- Narrated by: Daniel Okrent
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A forgotten, dark chapter of American history with implications for the current day, The Guarded Gate tells the story of the scientists who argued that certain nationalities were inherently inferior, providing the intellectual justification for the harshest immigration law in American history. Brandished by the upper-class Bostonians and New Yorkers - many of them progressives - who led the anti-immigration movement, the eugenic arguments helped keep hundreds of thousands of Jews, Italians, and other unwanted groups out of the US for more than 40 years.
-
-
Is history actually ‘repeating itself with Trump/Stephen Miller Policies?
- By Sean O'Shea on 07-21-19
By: Daniel Okrent
-
Control
- The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics
- By: Adam Rutherford
- Narrated by: Greg Patmore
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Control is a book about what geneticist Adam Rutherford calls “a defining idea of the twentieth century.” Inspired by Darwin’s ideas about evolution, eugenics arose in Victorian England as a theory for improving the British population, and quickly spread to America. With disarming wit and scientific precision, Rutherford explains why eugenics still figures prominently in the twenty-first century, despite its genocidal past. And he confronts insidious recurring questions, revealing the intellectual bankruptcy of the idea, and the scientific impossibility of its realization.
-
-
Excellent 2023 update on genetics
- By Roy on 01-11-25
By: Adam Rutherford
-
White Kids
- Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America
- By: Margaret A. Hagerman
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sociologist Margaret A. Hagerman zeroes in on affluent white kids to observe how they make sense of privilege, unequal educational opportunities, and police violence. In fascinating detail, Hagerman considers the role that they and their families play in the reproduction of racism and racial inequality in America. White Kids, based on two years of research involving in-depth interviews with white kids and their families, is a clear-eyed and sometimes shocking account of how white kids learn about race.
-
-
Being a good parent is racist
- By Amazon Customer on 12-07-20
-
Imbeciles
- The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck
- By: Adam Cohen
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imbeciles is the shocking story of Buck v. Bell, a legal case that challenges our faith in American justice. A gripping courtroom drama, it pits a helpless young woman against powerful scientists, lawyers, and judges who believed that eugenic measures were necessary to save the nation from being “swamped with incompetence.”
-
-
Compelling Concept, Aggravating Execution
- By Gillian on 04-05-16
By: Adam Cohen
-
What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia
- By: Elizabeth Catte
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia is a frank assessment of America's recent fascination with the people and problems of the region. The audiobook analyzes trends in contemporary writing on Appalachia, presents a brief history of Appalachia with an eye toward unpacking Appalachian stereotypes, and provides examples of writing, art, and policy created by Appalachians as opposed to for Appalachians. The audiobook offers a much-needed insider's perspective on the region.
-
-
Stop trying to make us fit into your ideology
- By Anonymous User on 03-08-19
By: Elizabeth Catte
-
Hitler's American Model
- The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law
- By: James Q. Whitman
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nazism triumphed in Germany during the high era of Jim Crow laws in the United States. Did the American regime of racial oppression in any way inspire the Nazis? The unsettling answer is yes. James Whitman presents a detailed investigation of the American impact on the notorious Nuremberg Laws, the centerpiece anti-Jewish legislation of the Nazi regime.
-
-
Did not we suspect this?
- By dessa on 11-04-18
By: James Q. Whitman
-
The Guarded Gate
- Bigotry, Eugenics and the Law That Kept Two Generations of Jews, Italians, and Other European Immigrants out of America
- By: Daniel Okrent
- Narrated by: Daniel Okrent
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A forgotten, dark chapter of American history with implications for the current day, The Guarded Gate tells the story of the scientists who argued that certain nationalities were inherently inferior, providing the intellectual justification for the harshest immigration law in American history. Brandished by the upper-class Bostonians and New Yorkers - many of them progressives - who led the anti-immigration movement, the eugenic arguments helped keep hundreds of thousands of Jews, Italians, and other unwanted groups out of the US for more than 40 years.
-
-
Is history actually ‘repeating itself with Trump/Stephen Miller Policies?
- By Sean O'Shea on 07-21-19
By: Daniel Okrent
-
Control
- The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics
- By: Adam Rutherford
- Narrated by: Greg Patmore
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Control is a book about what geneticist Adam Rutherford calls “a defining idea of the twentieth century.” Inspired by Darwin’s ideas about evolution, eugenics arose in Victorian England as a theory for improving the British population, and quickly spread to America. With disarming wit and scientific precision, Rutherford explains why eugenics still figures prominently in the twenty-first century, despite its genocidal past. And he confronts insidious recurring questions, revealing the intellectual bankruptcy of the idea, and the scientific impossibility of its realization.
-
-
Excellent 2023 update on genetics
- By Roy on 01-11-25
By: Adam Rutherford
-
White Kids
- Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America
- By: Margaret A. Hagerman
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sociologist Margaret A. Hagerman zeroes in on affluent white kids to observe how they make sense of privilege, unequal educational opportunities, and police violence. In fascinating detail, Hagerman considers the role that they and their families play in the reproduction of racism and racial inequality in America. White Kids, based on two years of research involving in-depth interviews with white kids and their families, is a clear-eyed and sometimes shocking account of how white kids learn about race.
-
-
Being a good parent is racist
- By Amazon Customer on 12-07-20
-
Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County
- A Family, a Virginia Town, a Civil Rights Battle
- By: Kristen Green
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the wake of the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, Virginia's Prince Edward County refused to obey the law. Rather than desegregate, the county closed its public schools, locking and chaining the doors. The community's White leaders quickly established a private academy, commandeering supplies from the shuttered public schools to use in their all-White classrooms. Meanwhile, Black parents had few options: keep their kids at home, move across county lines, or send them to live with relatives in other states. For five years, the schools remained closed.
-
-
Performance was well done and delivered clearly
- By Drew DeJesus on 04-04-24
By: Kristen Green
-
Caste
- The Origins of Our Discontents
- By: Isabel Wilkerson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings. Beautifully written, original, and revealing, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an eye-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of American life today.
-
-
Brilliant, articulate, highly listenable.
- By GM on 08-05-20
By: Isabel Wilkerson
-
Blackout
- How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation
- By: Candace Owens, Larry Elder
- Narrated by: Candace Owens, Larry Elder
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Black Americans have long been shackled to the Democrats. Seeing no viable alternative, they have watched liberal politicians take the Black vote for granted without pledging anything in return. In Blackout, Owens argues that this automatic allegiance is both illogical and unearned. She contends that the Democrat Party has a long history of racism and exposes the ideals that hinder the Black community’s ability to rise above poverty, live independent and successful lives, and be an active part of the American dream.
-
-
Thought provoking!
- By Girl with curls on 09-16-20
By: Candace Owens, and others
-
The Sum of Us
- What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together
- By: Heather McGhee
- Narrated by: Heather McGhee
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heather McGhee’s specialty is the American economy—and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. From the financial crisis of 2008 to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a root problem: racism in our politics and policymaking. But not just in the most obvious indignities for people of color. Racism has costs for white people, too. It is the common denominator of our most vexing public problems, the core dysfunction of our democracy and constitutive of the spiritual and moral crises that grip us all.
-
-
Good book but Recording tech is poor. Glitches
- By Jeannepup on 02-25-21
By: Heather McGhee
-
The United States of Socialism
- Who's Behind It. Why It's Evil. How to Stop It.
- By: Dinesh D'Souza
- Narrated by: Dinesh D'Souza
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For those who witnessed the global collapse of socialism, its resurrection in the 21st century comes as a surprise, even a shock. How can socialism work now when it has never worked before? In this pathbreaking audiobook, best-selling author Dinesh D’Souza argues that the socialism advanced today by the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, Ilhan Omar, and Elizabeth Warren is very different from the socialism of Lenin, Mao, and Castro.
-
-
Thank you again Mr. D'Souza
- By Karen K. Morrison on 06-04-20
By: Dinesh D'Souza
-
The Thomas Sowell Reader
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 14 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
These selections from the many writings of Thomas Sowell over a period of half a century cover social, economic, cultural, legal, educational, and political issues. The sources range from Dr. Sowell’s letters, books, newspaper columns, and articles in both scholarly journals and popular magazines. The topics range from latetalking children to tax cuts for the rich, baseball, race, war, the role of judges, medical care, and the rhetoric of politicians.
-
-
The Best Book By The Smartest Guy in the Room
- By Dave on 10-20-11
By: Thomas Sowell
-
Race Crazy
- BLM, 1619, and the Progressive Racism Movement
- By: Charles Love
- Narrated by: Charles Love
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When did America become obsessed with racial differences? After decades of progress healing real-world prejudices and anger, we suddenly live in an America where we’re expected to view every single thing through the lens of race. Children are taught the politics of racial resentment and fear in schools. Films, novels, and even comic books are judged by the color of their protagonists — and their adherence to the latest “woke” messaging.
-
-
Foundation For Our Future
- By Michael on 12-01-21
By: Charles Love
-
Letters to My White Male Friends
- By: Dax-Devlon Ross
- Narrated by: Dax-Devlon Ross
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
White men are finally realizing that simply not being racist isn’t enough to end racism. These men want deeper insight not only into how racism has harmed Black people, but, for the first time, into how it has harmed them. They are beginning to see that racism warps us all. Letters to My White Male Friends promises to help men who have said they are committed to change and to develop the capacity to see, feel and sustain that commitment so they can help secure racial justice for us all.
-
-
Not just for White Males
- By Anonymous User on 07-08-23
By: Dax-Devlon Ross
-
Healing Politics
- A Doctor’s Journey into the Heart of Our Political Epidemic
- By: Abdul El-Sayed
- Narrated by: Abdul El-Sayed
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Healing Politics, El-Sayed traces the life of a young idealist, weaving together powerful personal stories and fascinating forays into history and science. Marrying his unique perspective with the science of epidemiology, El-Sayed diagnoses an underlying epidemic afflicting our country, an epidemic of insecurity. And to heal the rifts this epidemic has created, he lays out a new direction for the progressive movement. This is a bold, personal, and compellingly original book from a prominent young leader.
-
-
Meh
- By outraged on 03-22-22
By: Abdul El-Sayed
-
The Devil You Know
- A Black Power Manifesto
- By: Charles M. Blow
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From journalist and New York Times best-selling author Charles Blow comes a powerful manifesto and call to action for Black Americans to amass political power and fight white supremacy.
-
-
A radical plan for Black liberation
- By Elizabeth on 01-27-21
By: Charles M. Blow
-
Is Reality Optional?
- And Other Essays
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thomas Sowell challenges all the assumptions of contemporary liberalism on issues ranging from the economy to race to education in this collection of controversial essays, and captures his thoughts on politics, race, and common sense with a section at the end for thought-provoking quotes.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Anonymous User on 09-28-22
By: Thomas Sowell
-
Viral Justice
- How We Grow the World We Want
- By: Ruha Benjamin
- Narrated by: Ruha Benjamin
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Long before the pandemic, Ruha Benjamin was doing groundbreaking research on race, technology, and justice, focusing on big, structural changes. But the twin plagues of COVID-19 and anti-Black police violence inspired her to rethink the importance of small, individual actions. Part memoir, part manifesto, Viral Justice is a sweeping and deeply personal exploration of how we can transform society through the choices we make every day.
-
-
Fantastic book!
- By Avie Kearney on 05-21-23
By: Ruha Benjamin
What listeners say about Pure America
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 10-10-21
Read this!
An honest account of the complicated eugenics programs of Virginia—from confinement, commitment, medicinal procedures, and the relocation of peoples. Should be a required read, especially those living in Virginia.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Scott Saganich
- 11-01-23
Highly recommend
This book is well researched, written and performed. It's a (sad) commentary on how much of our country's history is hidden
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cynthia Roseanna Rast
- 11-04-21
Outstanding and smart
She is not afraid to call monsters what they are and I can’t wait to see what she does next. Powerful and purposeful.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- KP
- 06-30-23
Highly recommend this book
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about the heartbreaking and extensive history of eugenics in the US. You won’t believe this is real at first because it is so unjust and evil- not to mention a part of history that I have never learned anything about in my 37 years. The book is very interesting, provides a lot of detailed information, and really does a moving job of telling the individual stories. I think this is especially valuable history to learn in the current political landscape.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Albert
- 04-29-24
Hillbillies & Indians gardened the Shenandoah
The author told a compelling tale, but left out something big. Scots Irish burned & farmed the same mountain balds kept open by Native Americans on the Blue Ridge. When they were removed from the land, the open fields were forested over. Biodiversity plummeted.
Hillbillies were doing something very clever, very wise—too complex for Progressives either then or now to understand. They were gardening the wilderness.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sarah Friedrich
- 10-14-24
Long on Commentary, Short on History
This was a very narrowly focused narrative. While it did discuss some of the history of eugenics in Virginia overall, it primarily focused in on Western States Hospital and on Shenandoah Notional Park in Virginia. It certainly did not discuss how eugenics from Virginia tied into eugenics in the US, overall.
The author never refrained from commentary throughout. All history was given in a tainted manner, leading the reader to the author's mindset, not presenting fact that would allow the reader to process.
Further, the author broke her own rule, which she herself set forth early in the essay, not to look at history through the eyes of the present. Instead, this happened constantly throughout, as well. It even got to the point of mentioning at least two current political figures, and attempting to tie them in to the dirt of the historical narrative.
It just was not what it was billed. It was not a history piece. It was an author's opinion with just enough historical veneer to allowed her to comment.
I wanted to like it, and kept hoping it would improve, but it did not.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Spanky
- 02-20-25
Pure America
I purchased this book in the hopes of learning more about our shameful past of eugenics. I did, but I only gave the book one star because I have no interest in the author’s political views today. When I purchase a book to learn about something, I do not want the author’s political views. She would do well to learn to keep those to herself.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 08-02-23
Goes Off Topic
Talks about statues, racism, government grants, tax credits, Elizabeth Warren, capitalism, Trump, white guilt, and what not in what appears to be a way to pad for time. It ignores birth rates, abortion numbers and its historical relevance to the discussion, and plenty more. But we get to hear an hour about mountaineers and another big chunk of time on some story about Catte talking to a publisher, talking about blankets, and her partner. Yay!
This happens repeatedly. I think I heard more about Catte’s partner and daily driving around Virginia than actual history. I’m surprised Catte didn’t add in a portion of how an idea arrived because Catte was on the toilet pushing out a turd and was reminded of something.
I could write a better and more informative book in a day while looking at Wikipedia. Really poorly done. What history is here is good and mostly accurate but, overall, it reminds me of a dump. It’s a turd of a book with a slight coating of real eugenics history.
Performance is okay. Most things are pronounced correctly. Literally this books only saving grace.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful