Consanguinity in Context

Alan H. Bittles is Research Leader at the Centre for Comparative Genomics, Murdoch University and Adjunct Professor of Community Genetics at Edith Cowan University, Australia.

• 1. Consanguineous marriage, past and present; 2. Religious attitudes and rulings on consanguineous marriage; 3. Civil legislation on consanguineous and affinal marriage; 4. Consanguinity: the scientific and medical debates of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; 5. Demographic and socioeconomic aspects of consanguineous marriage; 6. A population genetics perspective on consanguinity; 7. Consanguinity and reproductive behaviour; 8. Consanguinity and metrical traits at birth and in childhood; 9. Consanguinity and pre-reproductive mortality; 10. Consanguinity and morbidity in early life; 11. Consanguinity and disorders of adulthood; 12. Incest; 13. Genetic screening, education and counselling in consanguineous marriage; 14. Whither consanguineous marriage?; 15. Consanguinity in context; References; Index.

'… packed with carefully collated information, covering all aspects of consanguineous marriage … The compilation is exhaustive, fascinating and rigorously discussed … There is so much information here, but it is all relevant, well-validated, significant and stimulating … amazingly comprehensive, and yet readable … this book is exactly what is needed to clarify discussions and debates about consanguinity. It deserves to be influential in scientific, political and religious thinking.' BioNews (bionews.org.uk)