The History and Future of the Gene

This essay reviews three books that trace the development of the contemporary conception of the gene in the early 20th century: The Gene: An Intimate History (2016) by Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Gene: A Historical Perspective (2007) by Ted Everson, and In Pursuit of the Gene: From Darwin to DNA (2008) by James Schwartz. Each of these books is written for the educated lay reader, and each approaches its subject in a different way. Read together, they show how the now-dominant conception of the gene was not the inevitable result of impartial scientific inquiry; rather, it emerged within a particular historical context, and was shaped by specific social and intellectual forces.