A compelling portrait of a unique moment in American history when the
ideas of Charles Darwin reshaped American notions about nature,
religion, science and race
"A lively and informative history." - The New York Times Book Review
Throughout its history America has been torn in two by debates over
ideals and beliefs. Randall Fuller takes us back to one of those turning
points, in 1860, with the story of the influence of Charles Darwin's
just-published On the Origin of Species on five American
intellectuals, including Bronson Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, the child
welfare reformer Charles Loring Brace, and the abolitionist Franklin
Sanborn.
Each of these figures seized on the book's assertion of a common
ancestry for all creatures as a powerful argument against slavery, one
that helped provide scientific credibility to the cause of abolition.
Darwin's depiction of constant struggle and endless competition
described America on the brink of civil war. But some had difficulty
aligning the new theory to their religious convictions and their faith
in a higher power. Thoreau, perhaps the most profoundly affected all,
absorbed Darwin's views into his mysterious final work on species
migration and the interconnectedness of all living things.
Creating a rich tableau of nineteenth-century American intellectual
culture, as well as providing a fascinating biography of perhaps the
single most important idea of that time, The Book That Changed America
is also an account of issues and concerns still with us today, including
racism and the enduring conflict between science and religion.
