Charles Darwin: A Biography, Vol. 2 - The Power of Place - Softcover

Janet Browne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0691114390 ISBN 13: 9780691114392

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2003

Synopsis

In 1858, Charles Darwin was forty-nine years old, a gentleman scientist living quietly at Down House in the Kent countryside. He was not yet a focus of debate; his "big book on species" still lay on his desk as a manuscript. For more than twenty years he had been accumulating material for it, puzzling over the questions that it raised, trying to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion, and wanting to be certain that his startling theory of evolution was correct.

It is at this point that the concluding volume of Janet Browne's magisterial biography opens. Beginning with the extraordinary events that finally forced the Origin of Species into print, we come to the years of fame and controversy. Here, Browne does dramatic justice to all aspects of the Darwinian revolution, from a fascinating examination of the Victorian publishing scene to a survey of the debates between scientists and churchmen over evolutionary theory. At the same time, she presents a wonderfully sympathetic and authoritative picture of Darwin himself.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

les Darwin was forty-nine years old, a gentleman scientist living quietly at Down House in the Kent countryside, respected by fellow biologists and well liked among his wide and distinguished circle of acquaintances. He was not yet a focus of debate; his “big book on species” still lay on his study desk in the form of a huge pile of manuscript. For more than twenty years he had been accumulating material for it, puzzling over questions it raised, trying—it seemed endlessly—to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. Publication appeared to be as far away as ever, delayed by his inherent cautiousness and wish to be certain that his startling theory of evolution was correct.

It is at this point that the concluding volume of Janet Browne’s biography opens. The much-praised first volume, Voyaging, carried Darwin’s story through his youth and scientific apprenticeship, the adventurous Beagle voyage, his marriage and the birth of his children, the genesis and d

From the Back Cover:

"Continuing where Charles Darwin: Voyaging (1995) left off, the British science historian completes her brilliant two-volume biography . . . A richly detailed, vivid, and definitive portrait with not a word wasted: the best life of Charles Darwin in the modern literature."
 --Kirkus Reviews

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0691114390
• ISBN 13: 9780691114392
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 624