What About Darwin?
All Species of Opinion From Scientists, Sages, Friends, and Enemies Who Met, Read, and Discussed the Naturalist Who Changed the WorldBook - 2010
Glick (history, Boston U) uses essays, letters, speeches, poetry, short stories, novels, plays, and parodies to compile an impressive and seemingly comprehensive A-Z dictionary of quotations that mention Charles Darwin or his works. Demonstrating Darwin's widespread influence, the dictionary includes quotes and literary excerpts from both supporters and opponents of his work, including politicians, philosophers, economists, musicians, novelists, and other naturalists. Martin Luther King Jr., George Eliot, Carl Jung, C.S. Lewis, and Winston Churchill are among the more surprising entries included. Asterisks are used to indicate that a figure mentioned in a quotation has his or her own entry, thereby allowing the reader to cross reference throughout the volume. Darwin fans will enjoy this engaging work. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Charles Darwin and his revolutionary ideas inspired pundits the world over to put pen to paper. In this unique dictionary of quotations, Darwin scholar Thomas Glick presents fascinating observations about Darwin and his ideas from such notable figures as P. T. Barnum, Anton Chekhov, Mahatma Gandhi, Carl Jung, Martin Luther King, Mao Tse-tung, Pius IX, Jules Verne, and Virginia Woolf.
What was it about Darwin that generated such widespread interest? His Origin of Species changed the world. Naturalists, clerics, politicians, novelists, poets, musicians, economists, and philosophers alike could not help but engage his theory of evolution. Whatever their view of his theory, however, those who met Darwin were unfailingly charmed by his modesty, kindness, honesty, and seriousness of purpose.
This diverse collection drawn from essays, letters, novels, short stories, plays, poetry, speeches, and parodies demonstrates how Darwin’s ideas permeated all areas of thought. The quotations trace a broad conversation about Darwin across great distances of time and space, revealing his profound influence on the great thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.