Darwin's sacred cause : how a hatred of slavery shaped Darwin's views on human evolution / Adrian Desmond & James Moore.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Desmond, Adrian J., 1947-

Contributor:

Moore, James R. (James Richard), 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882--Ethics.

Darwin, Charles.

Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882--Political and social views.

Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882.

Human evolution--Philosophy.

Human evolution.

Slavery--Philosophy.

Slavery.

Slavery--Moral and ethical aspects.

Political and social views.

Ethics.

Physical Description:

xxi, 484 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.

Summary:

There is a mystery surrounding Darwin: How did this quiet, respectable gentleman, a pillar of his parish, come to embrace one of the most radical ideas in the history of human thought? Darwin risked a great deal in publishing his theory of evolution, so something very powerful--a moral fire--must have propelled him. That moral fire, argue authors Desmond and Moore, was a passionate hatred of slavery. They draw on a wealth of fresh manuscripts, correspondence, notebooks, diaries, and even ships' logs to show how Darwin's abolitionism had deep roots in his mother's family and was reinforced by his voyage on the Beagle as well as by events in America. Leading apologists for slavery in Darwin's time argued that blacks and whites were separate species, with whites created superior. Darwin believed that the races belonged to the same human family, and slavery was therefore a sin.--From publisher description.

Contents:

The intimate 'Blackamoor'

Racial numb-skulls

All nations of one blood

Living in slave countries

Common descent : from the father of man to the father of all mammals

Hybridizing humans

This odious deadly subject

Domestic animals and domestic institutions

Oh for shame Agassiz!

The contamination of Negro blood

The secret science drifts from its sacred cause

Cannibals and the Confederacy in London

The descent of the races.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 422-456) and index.

ISBN:

9780547055268

0547055269

OCLC:

231588312

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description