Far from evading the issue of racial differences in ability, it was written for the very purpose of investigating and clarifying those differences. Dr. Baker, now deceased, was the ideal author for this book. He was professor emeritus of cytology at Oxford University, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and president of the Royal Microscopical Society. Written late in life, Race is Dr. Baker's definitive statement on what he considered one of the most important issues of our time. It is supplemented with more than 80 illustrations, and some of the simpler line drawings are reproduced here.
Race is organized in four parts.
The second is an introduction to the biology of taxonomy or classification, including a thorough treatment of how races and species are identified. The third is a detailed inventory of the biological differences that distinguish the major races and subraces. In the final section, Dr. Baker sets out what he considers to be the essential criteria for determining what he bluntly calls superiority and inferiority. Not surprisingly, his conclusions are at odds with current dogma. Dr. Baker's historical account of what has been written about ethnic differences includes introductions to a number of people one might well expect, such as the Comte de Gobineau, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Nietzsche, Francis Galton, and even Hitler.