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Melvin Konner

Melvin Konner, the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Anthropology and associate professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at Emory University, is the author of The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit.

Recent Articles

Our Bodies, Our Choices

Melvin KonnerApr 22, 2007

The Case Against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering by Michael J. Sandel (Belknap Press, 162 pages, $18.95)

Most religious traditions today not only accept advances in medical science but regard them in some sense as a moral imperative. Christians say, "God helps those who help themselves," Jews are urged to "repair the world" (and even to complete the work of creation), and the Dalai Lama famously reveres science and expresses doubts about elements in his own great religious tradition when they seem to conflict with science's findings.

The Fat and the Fire

Melvin KonnerFeb 21, 2005

Generation Extra Large: Rescuing Our Children from the Epidemic of Obesity by Lisa Tartamella, Elaine Herscher, and Chris Woolston (Basic Books, 272 pages, $25.00)

Our Overweight Children: What Parents, Schools, and Communities Can Do to Control the Fatness Epidemic
by Sharron Dalton (University of California Press, 292 pages, $24.95)

Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood
by Susan Linn (New Press, 256 pages, $24.95)

Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition
and Health by Marion Nestle (University of California Press, 469 pages, $29.95)

Books in Review

Melvin KonnerJan 21, 2003

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature

By Steven Pinker. Viking Press, 509 pages, $27.95

Darwinian Politics: The Evolutionary Origin of Freedom

By Paul H. Rubin. Rutgers University Press, 256 pages, $25.00

Darwin's Truth, Jefferson's Vision

Melvin KonnerDec 19, 2001

One Pill Makes You Larger

The Ethics of Enhancement

Melvin KonnerDec 19, 2001