Evolutionary Writings: including the Autobiographies

Charles Darwin

May 2010 · OUP Oxford

About this eBook

'Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin' On topics ranging from intelligent design and climate change to the politics of gender and race, the evolutionary writings of Charles Darwin occupy a pivotal position in contemporary public debate. This volume brings together the key chapters of his most important and accessible books, including the Journal of Researches on the Beagle voyage (1845), the Origin of Species (1871), and the Descent of Man, along with the full text of his delightful autobiography. They are accompanied by generous selections of responses from Darwin's nineteenth-century readers from across the world. More than anything, they give a keen sense of the controversial nature of Darwin's ideas, and his position within Victorian debates about man's place in nature. The wide-ranging introduction by James A. Secord, Director of the Darwin Correspondence Project, explores the global impact and origins of Darwin's work and the reasons for its unparalleled significance today. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

About the author

James A. Secord is the author of Controversy in Victorian Geology: The Cambrian-Silurian Dispute (Princeton, 1986), and Victorian Sensation: The Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of 'Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation' (Chicago, 2000), winner of the 2002 Pfizer Prize of the History of Science Society. He has edited Lyell's Principles of Geology for Penguin.