Promotional Information

Livingstone's achievement shows how important local events were in shaping attitudes to and even the meaning of 'Darwinism' in communities where biological evolution, particularly the specific mechanism of natural selection, was a divisive issue. The author brings an exceptional degree of sophistication to his task, exploring ways in which different local contexts also affected what participants in these post-Darwinian debates felt able to say in public. Livingstone provides a detailed and authoritative account of the contours of debate, the careers of the respective adversaries, and the political issues that were most pressing for them. -- John Hedley Brooke, University of Oxford Dealing with Darwin is by a widely respected scholar who is clearly at the top of his game. It is an exciting and comprehensive text that will serve as a leading discussion point and intellectual signpost for the field, particularly for those interested in science and religion and in history. I am very enthusiastic about it! -- Janet Browne, Harvard University

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Dealing with Darwin: Locating Encounters with Evolution
2. Edinburgh, Evolution, and Cannibalistic Nostalgia
3. Belfast, the Parliament of Science, and the Winter of Discontent
4. Toronto, Knox, and Bacon's Bequest
5. Columbia, Woodrow, and the Legacy of the Lost Cause
6. Princeton, Darwinism, and the Shorthorn Cattle
7. Darwinian Engagements: Place, Politics, Rhetoric
Notes
Index

About the Author

David N. Livingstone is a professor of geography and intellectual history at Queen's University, Belfast. He is author of Adam's Ancestors: Race, Religion, and the Politics of Human Origins, also published by Johns Hopkins.

Reviews

How was Darwin's On the Origin of Species received by his contemporary scholars, particularly by theologians and religious authors? That is the subject of the thoroughly researched and elegantly written book by David N. Livingstone. -- Francisco J. Ayala Science, Religion and Culture Dealing with Darwin is a compelling account of how science is made in a process of transit. A theory such as Darwinian evolution is, after all, not a sealed package that is either accepted or rejected by its various audiences. Rather, as Livingstone's book vividly demonstrates, different versions of Darwin were appropriated, reconstituted and constructed to suit various local needs and theological or scientific contingencies. -- Gowan Dawson Journal of Historical Geography An informing and suggestive examination of the Darwinian episode. -- J. David Hoeveler Reports of the National Center for Science Education