Darwins Armada : Four Voyages and the Battle for the Theory of Evolution by Iain

Description: From the 2009 hardcover edition: Award-wining historian Iain McCalman revisits the rise of Darwinian thought through the lens of Darwin's most vocal supporters and colleagues, who were each crucial to the advancement of his theory of evolution. Joseph Hooker, a botanist and Darwin's closest ally; Thomas Huxley, Darwin's most effective defender in the fight against the clergy; and Alfred Wallace, the field naturalist who arrived independently at the theory of evolution by natural selection, spurring Darwin to publish his book. The book traces their diverse social origins and educations--from the wealthy gentry to the working-class poor, from the spires of Cambridge to the socialist debating halls of London and Wales--and charts their separate, dangerous, demanding, and intellectually exciting travels in wooden ships to the remote southern lands and oceans of South America, Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, Southeast Asia, and Antarctica. Encounters with these unique southern landscapes and habitats reshaped their thinking and led them, on returning to Britain, to befriend fellow voyager Charles Darwin and to influence crucially his publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859. For the next forty years, this "well-salted" little group became passionate campaigners in the savage war of ideas that Darwin's heretical theory of evolution by natural selection generated within Victorian Britain and elsewhere.

Price: 4.49 USD

Location: Medford, Massachusetts

End Time: 2024-11-26T23:03:49.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5.38 USD