The reception of Darwinian evolution in Britain, 1859-1909 : Darwinism's generations / Martin Hewitt.

Format:

• Book

Author/Creator:

• Hewitt, Martin, 1962- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

• Evolution (Biology)--History.

Physical Description:

xiv, 494 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Other Title:

Darwinism's generations

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, [2024]

Summary:

Darwinism's Generations uses the impact of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of the Species (1859) in the fifty years after its publication to demonstrate the effectiveness of a generational framework for understanding the cultural and intellectual history of Britain in the nineteenth century. It challenges conventional notions of the "Darwinian Revolution" by examining how people from across all sections of society actually responded to Darwin's writings. Drawing on the opinions and interventions of over 2,000 Victorians, gleaned from an exceptionally wide range of archival and printed sources, it argues that the spread of Darwinian belief was slower, more complicated more stratified by age, and ultimately shaped far more powerfully by divergent generational responses, than has previously been recognised. -- Jacket.

Contents:

• Introduction: Victorian Britain and the problem of generations
• The publication of On the Origin of the Species
• In the wake of the Origin
• The Descent of Man and the high Victorians
• The death of Darwin and after: the 1880s and the late Victorians
• Darwinian debates at the fin de siecle: the Edwardians
• Conclusion: Continuity, conversion, and counter-example
• Appendix. Prosopography.

Notes:

• Title from title page.
• Includes bibliographical references (pages 455-475) and index.

ISBN:

• 9780192890993
• 0192890999

OCLC:

1419254186

Publisher Number:

90100854250