Unnatural Selection

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    I n the beginning this was a zygote of an idea, a small plan for a magazine article on the effects of China’s sex ratio imbalance. Ted Genoways at the Virginia Quarterly Review believed in that idea and provided me the space in which to explore it. He was also invaluable in encouraging me to look beyond sex trafficking and bride buying toward the other, less obvious ways in which sex selection can transform a society. His curatorial voice stayed with me as the article grew into a book.
    Ariana Lindquist collaborated with me on that early assignment and turned out to be the best photographer I could have hoped for. Ariana introduced me to the Suining families whose experiences formed the backbone of my reporting, and her deeply humanistic photos pushed my writing to new levels. After we completed the article she continued to volunteer relevant details and read over drafts of chapters. I know few who are as dedicated to their work.
    I am indebted to the editors who let me take time away from my regular correspondent gigs to write this book, particularly Beth McMurtrie at The Chronicle of Higher Education and Richard Stone at Science . Others commissioned and shaped articles that found their way into the preceding pages: Britt Peterson, then at The New Republic , and Ben Austen, then at Harper’s. And I am obliged to those editors whose assignments sustained me, both economically and intellectually, over the past three years: Paul Adams, George Black, David Malakoff, Mike May, Michael Moyer, John Parman, Samir Patel, Jennifer Ruark, Greg Veis, and Jacob Ward.

    This would perhaps be a very different work without the enthusiasm of Gillian MacKenzie, my agent, who loved the idea of a global book from the start and gave astute input in the proposal phase. She has been an excellent shepherd for the project.
    Gillian also found the book a great home. The early and insightful guidance of Clive Priddle, my editor at PublicAffairs, nudged me in the right direction. Other editors who worked on the book but have since left the house include Morgen VanVorst and Lindsay Jones. Chrisona Schmidt copyedited, and Melissa Raymond, along with Sandra Beris of Perseus Books, saw the pages through to the printing stage. Katherine Schreiber diligently fact checked the manuscript and provided helpful suggestions along the way. All remaining errors are mine.
    Various friends and family members read and commented on drafts. Thank you to Laura Danielson, Glenn Ford, Doris Klein, Jessica Pulver, and Renee Witlen for your insights and corrections. Rebecca Catching provided an extra set of eyes at the proofreading stage.
    In my research on the population control movement I relied heavily on historian Matthew Connelly’s amazingly thorough—and very well-written—account, Fatal Misconception. I appreciate his help in generously suggesting sources and sending relevant documents along the way. Also valuable were the librarians at Smith College’s Sophia Smith Collection—particularly Amy Hague, who expertly pointed me in the direction of relevant files in the Planned Parenthood Federation of America boxes—and the guardian of the Center for Women’s Development Studies archive in Delhi. (I wish I knew your name.) Finally, I drew on the deep website maintained by the Rockefeller Archive Center, along with the oral histories available on the Sophia Smith Collection and Truman Library websites.
    Again and again I turned to demographers in the course of reporting this book. Some of them did not make it into the final draft. S. Irudaya Rajan graciously hosted me in Kerala, and Isabelle Attané spoke with me in Paris. Cai Yong was crucial in shaping my understanding of the one-child policy. Other scholars and activists who helped me grasp this topic include Mary E. John and Ratna Sudarshan in Delhi.
    My reporting would have been a lot lonelier—and the book that resulted less detailed—were it not for friends who housed and guided me
in various cities around the world: Mr. and Mrs. Shiv Suri in Delhi, Nana Eun-A Seo in Seoul, Amanda Hong in Taipei, Tracey Suen in London, Zac Wyman in Paris, Dayna and Ember Frank and Angela Kim in Los Angeles, James Luke David in San Francisco, and Megan Shank and Adam Feeney in New York.
    Friends—and sometimes friends of friends—introduced me to sources and helped set up interviews: Jennifer Cheng, Yoonhee Cho, Gia Dinh, Karen Hyun, Christian Laudet,