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"I often said before starting, that I had no doubt I should frequently repent of the whole undertaking.” So wrote Charles Darwin aboard The Beagle, bound for the Galapagos Islands and what would arguably become the greatest and most controversial discovery in scientific history. But the theory of evolution did not spring full-blown from the head of Darwin. Since the dawn of humanity, priests, philosophers, and scientists have debated the origin and development of life on earth, and with modern science, that debate shifted into high gear.
In this lively, deeply erudite work, Pulitzer Prize-winning science historian Edward J. Larson takes us on a guided tour of Darwin's "dangerous idea,” from its theoretical antecedents in the early nineteenth century to the brilliant breakthroughs of Darwin and Wallace, to Watson and Crick's stunning discovery of the DNA double helix, and to the triumphant neo-Darwinian synthesis and rising sociobiology today.
Along the way, Larson expertly places the scientific upheaval of evolution in cultural perspective: the social and philosophical earthquake that was the French Revolution; the development, in England, of a laissez-faire capitalism in tune with a Darwinian ethos of "survival of the fittest”; the emergence of Social Darwinism and the dark science of eugenics against a backdrop of industrial revolution; the American Christian backlash against evolutionism that culminated in the famous Scopes trial; and on to today's world, where religious fundamentalists litigate for the right to teach "creation science” alongside evolution in U.S. public schools, even as the theory itself continues to evolve in new and surprising directions.
Throughout, Larson trains his spotlight on the lives and careers of the scientists, explorers, and eccentrics whose collaborations and competitions have driven the theory of evolution forward. Here are portraits of Cuvier, Lamarck, Darwin, Wallace, Haeckel, Galton, Huxley, Mendel, Morgan, Fisher, Dobzhansky, Watson and Crick, W. D. Hamilton, E. O. Wilson, and many others. Celebrated as one of mankind's crowning scientific achievements and reviled as a threat to our deepest values, the theory of evolution has utterly transformed our view of life, religion, origins, and the theory itself, and remains controversial, especially in the United States (where 90% of adults do not subscribe to the full Darwinian vision). Replete with fresh material and new insights, Evolution will educate and inform while taking readers on a fascinating journey of discovery.
EDWARD J. LARSON is Russell Professor of History and Talmadge Professor of Law at the University of Georgia. He is the recipient of multiple awards for teaching and writing, including the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in History for his book, Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion. His most recent book is Evolution's Workshop: God and Science on the Galapagos Islands. His articles have appeared in dozens of journals including The Atlantic Monthly, Nature, The Nation, and Scientific American.
Show more"I often said before starting, that I had no doubt I should frequently repent of the whole undertaking.” So wrote Charles Darwin aboard The Beagle, bound for the Galapagos Islands and what would arguably become the greatest and most controversial discovery in scientific history. But the theory of evolution did not spring full-blown from the head of Darwin. Since the dawn of humanity, priests, philosophers, and scientists have debated the origin and development of life on earth, and with modern science, that debate shifted into high gear.
In this lively, deeply erudite work, Pulitzer Prize-winning science historian Edward J. Larson takes us on a guided tour of Darwin's "dangerous idea,” from its theoretical antecedents in the early nineteenth century to the brilliant breakthroughs of Darwin and Wallace, to Watson and Crick's stunning discovery of the DNA double helix, and to the triumphant neo-Darwinian synthesis and rising sociobiology today.
Along the way, Larson expertly places the scientific upheaval of evolution in cultural perspective: the social and philosophical earthquake that was the French Revolution; the development, in England, of a laissez-faire capitalism in tune with a Darwinian ethos of "survival of the fittest”; the emergence of Social Darwinism and the dark science of eugenics against a backdrop of industrial revolution; the American Christian backlash against evolutionism that culminated in the famous Scopes trial; and on to today's world, where religious fundamentalists litigate for the right to teach "creation science” alongside evolution in U.S. public schools, even as the theory itself continues to evolve in new and surprising directions.
Throughout, Larson trains his spotlight on the lives and careers of the scientists, explorers, and eccentrics whose collaborations and competitions have driven the theory of evolution forward. Here are portraits of Cuvier, Lamarck, Darwin, Wallace, Haeckel, Galton, Huxley, Mendel, Morgan, Fisher, Dobzhansky, Watson and Crick, W. D. Hamilton, E. O. Wilson, and many others. Celebrated as one of mankind's crowning scientific achievements and reviled as a threat to our deepest values, the theory of evolution has utterly transformed our view of life, religion, origins, and the theory itself, and remains controversial, especially in the United States (where 90% of adults do not subscribe to the full Darwinian vision). Replete with fresh material and new insights, Evolution will educate and inform while taking readers on a fascinating journey of discovery.
EDWARD J. LARSON is Russell Professor of History and Talmadge Professor of Law at the University of Georgia. He is the recipient of multiple awards for teaching and writing, including the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in History for his book, Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion. His most recent book is Evolution's Workshop: God and Science on the Galapagos Islands. His articles have appeared in dozens of journals including The Atlantic Monthly, Nature, The Nation, and Scientific American.
Show moreEDWARD J. LARSON is Russell Professor of History and Talmadge Professor of Law at the University of Georgia. He is the recipient of multiple awards for teaching and writing, including the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in History for his book, Summer for the Gods- The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion. His most recent book is Evolution's Workshop- God and Science on the Galapagos Islands. His articles have appeared in dozens of journals including The Atlantic Monthly, Nature, The Nation, and Scientific American.
"Infectious good reading. The prose is limpid, the chapters are
luminous."
—James Moore, co-author of Darwin
“The history of evolutionary science from the 18th-century to the
present is a history of controversies and seemingly incompatible
views. It takes an author like Ed Larson to provide an account of
this crucial history. . . .The reader will be rewarded by an
intellectual delight.”
—Ernst Mayr
"Larson masterfully takes us from the 18th century French
enlightenment to the 21st century evolution wars. From Buffon and
Cuvier, through Darwin and Wallace, to Dawkins, Gould, and Wilson,
he provides a scholarly, readable history of the ups and downs of
the theory of evolution. Larson shows us how firmly this theory is
established, as firmly as Einstein's theory of relativity."
—Duncan M. Porter, Director of the Darwin Correspondence
Project
"Larson has written a brilliant introduction to the history of
evolution, equally sensitive to scientific, religious, and social
factors. It is, hands down, the most readable and reliable account
available."
—Ronald L. Numbers, Hilldale and William Coleman Professor of the
History of Science and Medicine. Department of Medical History and
Bioethics, University of Wisconsin
"Ed Larson is both a historian and a writer who knows how to bring
his subject alive. In Evolution: The Remarkable History of a
Scientific Theory he combines the latest historical scholarship
with an understanding of recent issues in science, religion and
social debate. This powerful book will help everyone understand the
foundations of modern evolutionary ideas and the origins of the
latest controversies."
—Peter J. Bowler, Queens University Belfast
"An indispensable guide to the sometimes weird, but always
wonderful, world of Evolution. Every species inhabiting this
contested territory is here: Darwinian materialists, Lamarckian
progressivists, hopeful-monster mutationists, theistic
evolutionists, neo-vitalists, six-day creationists, mathematical
geneticists, intelligent designers, molecular reductionists and on
and on. Yet this is no monochrome chronicle of disengaged
scientific ideas. It is a rich and compelling narrative portrayed
in glorious technicolour, as grand and sweeping in scope as the
theory of evolution itself. In the struggle for shelf-life among
publications on evolution, Edward Larson?s book is superbly fitted
for long-term survival."
—David N. Livingstone, author of Darwin's Forgotten Defenders: The
Encounter Between Evangelical Theology and Evolutionary Thought
“Larson’s acclaimed gifts as a writer who can make the history of
science exciting to a wide audience are visible again. The story,
which takes seriously the cultural meanings of new science, has
many twists and turns and is told with humor and vivacity.”
—JOHN HEDLEY BROOKE, Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and
Religion, University of Oxford
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