Madison Grant

author

Madison Grant

1865–1937

Best known as a conservationist and writer, he also became one of the most influential American advocates of eugenics and scientific racism in the early 20th century. His legacy is deeply controversial because his ideas helped shape exclusionary immigration policy and racial thinking in the United States.

3 Audiobooks

The passing of the great race; or, The racial basis of European history

The passing of the great race; or, The racial basis of European history

by Madison Grant

The Conquest of a Continent; or, The Expansion of Races in America

The Conquest of a Continent; or, The Expansion of Races in America

by Madison Grant

The Rocky Mountain Goat

The Rocky Mountain Goat

by Madison Grant

About the author

Born in New York City in 1865, Madison Grant was trained as a lawyer but became more widely known for his work in conservation, zoology, and public affairs. He was active in organizations tied to wildlife protection and the New York Zoological Society, and he wrote on subjects ranging from animals to human history.

Grant is now remembered above all for The Passing of the Great Race (1916), a book that promoted eugenics and racist theories of human hierarchy. Those views were influential in their time and were linked to anti-immigration and white supremacist thinking, which has made his reputation far more notorious than his conservation work.

He died in 1937. Today, accounts of his life usually place both sides of his legacy together: a prominent early conservation figure, and a major public voice for ideas that are now widely condemned as pseudoscientific and harmful.