Huxley: The Devil's Disciple

Huxley #1

by Adrian J. Desmond

T.H. Huxley (1825-1895) - "Darwin's bulldog" - led a far more fascinating and outgoing life than the reclusive Darwin. He did battle with God and Gladstone, sat on royal commissions and campaigned for elementary education. He carried Darwin's fight to the public and outraged the old order with his talk of the material basis of life. It was a life lived at high speed and to the full, embracing all the Victorian hopes and fears. Desperately trying to scratch a living in his young days, he suffered mental collapses as he failed to bring his fiancee over from Sydney (he raised the cash after four years). The author of this book uses the life of Huxley to illustrate and illuminate the second - and far more turbulent - half of the 19th century. Adrian Desmond is the author of "Darwin" which won the James Tait Black Prize in Britain, the Comisso Prize in Italy and the Watson Davis Prize in America.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History

496 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1995

About the author

Adrian John Desmond (born 1947) is an English writer on the history of science.

He studied physiology at University College, London, and went on to study history of science and vertebrate palaeontology at University College London before researching the history of vertebrate palaeontology at Harvard University, under Stephen Jay Gould. He was awarded a PhD in the area of the Victorian-period context of Darwinian evolution.

Desmond is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Biology Department at University College London.

Reviews

[Michael Hanquiniouax · Rating 5 out of 5]

Proper bloke.

[Kevin Orrman-Rossiter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The changeover from dilettante gentlemen scientists to a professional meritocracy was always going to be an interesting transition.Huxley was certainly the man for the time.

[Frederick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought-provoking and interesting. Reveals a sociological side to the acceptance of Darwinism.