Susan Lindee's original study explores the institutions, disciplines, and ideas that initiated the reconfiguration of genetic medicine from a marginal field in the mid-1950s to a core research frontier of biomedicine. Tracing the work of geneticists and other experts in identifying and classifying disease during the explosive period between 1950 and 1980, Lindee identifies the individual "moments of truth" that moved the field away from its eugenic past to the center of a new world view in which nearly all disease is understood to be fundamentally genetic.

"These fascinating, well-written stories portray what it is like to work in human or medical genetics, both in the clinic and as a researcher."--Nature

"As difficult as it is to pinpoint the key events in history, Lindee manages this well, singling out and humanising the most important events and players."--Lancet

"This history will reward anyone interested in the paths from gene discoveries to cures or the potential for genomic medicine."--Science

"Captures the complexities of research on genetic disease while prompting us to reconsider the distribution of scientific authority and the dynamics of knowledge production."--New England Journal of Medicine

"An elegant, accessible, even thrilling book that is itself a moment of historical truth and a must-read."--Bulletin of the History of Medicine

"Moments of Truth in Genetic Medicine opens up an important area of contemporary biomedicine, the 'genetization' of disease, to historical scrutiny, looking for decisive turning points far beyond the narrow confines of molecular genetics. Written in a highly accessible style, it will be of interest to anyone concerned with the making of biomedical knowledge, genetic and otherwise."--Isis

Susan Lindee is a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania.