It is almost impossible to overstate the impact of Charles Darwin's work on Western civilization. As much as anyone in the modern era, he changed human thought, and his influence is still felt in virtually all aspects of our lives. From science and concepts of society to philosophy, theology, and literature, Darwin's legacy will be discussed and debated for centuries to come, as it has been in the past. That legacy is the core of Darwin, edited by Philip Appleman: selections from The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man are brought together with a wealth of materials on every phase of Darwin's influence. Rounding out the volume is a brilliant epilogue in which Professor Appleman evaluates Darin's legacy from the perspective of the late twentieth century, leaving little doubt about Darwin's place in the history of Western thought.
In this revised edition, new departures in the biological sciences are shown to be consciously post-Darwinian developments: Edward O. Wilson on sociology, Konrad Lorenz on ethology, Carl Sagan on intelligence research, Margaret Mead on the evolutionary process, Jane Goodall on primate research, Richard Leakey on paleontology, Nicholas Wade on recombinant DNA research. A new postscript by Professor Appleman discusses these developments and their Darwinian origins.
About the Editor
Philip Appleman is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at Indiana University, where he was a founding editor of Victorian Studies. He is the author of The Silent Explosion; coeditor of 1859: Entering an Age of Crisis; editor of Thomas Malthus's An Essay on the Principal of Population, a Norton Critical Edition; and author of several volumes of poetry and fiction.
