A study of the racial origins of the European peoples, by one of the pioneers of racial science.

This is a translation by G.C. Wheeler from the second German edition. It is profusely illustrated with 368 portraits of racial types, and 22 maps showing their distribution. Günther examines the physical and mental characteristics of the five basic sub-races of Europe, as well as the influence of racial strains from outside Europe. He examines the development of the European races in prehistory, with especial reference to the Nordic. After examining contemporary Europe from the racial perspective and an anthropological view of history, he closes with a rousing chapter on the Nordic as an ideal.