When Mortals Play God: Eugenics and One Family's Story of Tragedy, Loss, and Perseverance - Hardcover

by John Erickson (Author), Molly Ladd-Taylor (Foreword by)

In this extraordinary book, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist John Erickson uncovers the long-hidden story of an immigrant family whose matriarch was imprisoned in her 20s and later sterilized, a victim of the state-sanctioned eugenics movement.

Author Biography

John Erickson spent more than 30 years in journalism at newspapers in North Dakota, Montana, Illinois and Ohio. At the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, he led the coverage on three stories that were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize, including a series that won the Pulitzer for National Reporting in 1998. In 2019, he was inducted into the Ohio Associated Press Media Editors' Hall of Fame. John grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in journalism. He lives in Dayton, Ohio, with his wife and their two children. He is dedicating the book to his mother who, God willing, will be 100 years old in November 2021.