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The Perfection of Nature 2022
The Perfection of Nature: Animals, Breeding, and Race in the Renaissance is a 2022 scholarly work by American historian Mackenzie Cooley. The book follows how ideas about race emerged from animal breeding traditions in Renaissance Italy and the Spanish Empire between the fifteenth, sixteenth, and early seventeenth centuries. Cooley demonstrates that the term razza, initially applied to selectively bred animal strains, later came to describe human groups through connections between breeding techniques, colonial experiences, and theological discussions on human diversity. Using archival sources including breeding logs, natural history texts, and legal records from Europe and the Americas, the study explores how Renaissance breeders, judges, and scientists formed classifications of difference that influenced contemporary racial concepts. The author received the 2025 Dan David Prize, was noted for the 2023 MLA Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Comparative Literary Studies, and was nominated for the 2023 Cundill History Prize, along with other honors.
Details
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- ISBN
- 9780226822280
- Pages
- 344
