The Bugs in Darwin's Bed

The unshackling of science from religious intolerance is the theme of Bryan Harbottle's fascinating and scholarly work. He focusses on two giants of the Victorian era and their ground-breaking works: Charles Darwin's 'The Origin of Species (1859), and Thomas Huxley's 'Man's Place in Nature' (1863). Darwin and Huxley, with their implicit denial of the Genesis creation and a Designer God, thrust their message of evolution and natural selection deep into the heart of the Establishment. It howled. Darwin himself was tormented by private doubts about eternal punishment and social obloquy; but his second famous work, 'The Descent of Man' (1871), fell on less hostile ground and established him as a scientific genius. While his views are closely scrutinised today, here is a book that places him in a true perspective - as a champion of intellectual freedom in a far from liberal age. It's challenging, yes; but it's also very well thought out and very convincing.