Beauty or Statistics: Practice and Science in Dutch Livestock Breeding, 1900–2000

"This book offers a magnificent panorama on animal husbandry, featuring concrete discussions on dairy cattle, chickens, pigs, sheep, and horses."

Beat Bächi, University of Zurich, European Journal for the History of Medicine and Health

"A work of excellent scholarship that will be recommended reading for scholars interested in twentieth-century agricultural history and in the history of animal breeding and genetics."

Tarquin Holmes, History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences

"This book beautifully straddles the line between the two apparently diverse (and often divisive) attitudes to breeding, because of a deep understanding of both genetic and practical breeding methods."

Margaret E. Derry, University of Guelph, Agricultural History

"Beauty or Statistics makes a significant contribution to the histories of both science and agriculture, while all of those involved in livestock breeding over the last sixty or seventy years will find part of their life stories written here."

Paul Brassley, Department of History, University of Exeter

"Beauty or Statistics is a marvelous book resulting from meticulous research, and advances the broadening field of studies devoted to understanding how animal breeding has evolved after the advent of the science of genetics."

Margaret E. Derry, adjunct professor, Department of History, Associated faculty member, Campbell Centre for Animal Welfare, University of Guelph

"In this deeply researched and eye-opening book, Theunissen authoritatively recounts the remarkably successful Dutch efforts in the twentieth century to improve cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens, and horses. Pursuing the interplay of science and practice, he emphasizes that the breeders paid little attention to Mendelian genetics and a good deal to indicators of inheritable quality such as conformation and intergenerational statistics. Theunissen’s book is original, provocative, and altogether convincing, a game-changer for the history of modern animal breeding."

Daniel J. Kevles, Department of History, Yale University