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The book that changed America : how Darwin's theory of evolution ignited a nation / Randall Fuller.

by Fuller, Randall, 1963-

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Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882. On the origin of species.

Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882 -- Influence.

Evolution (Biology) -- United States -- History -- 19th century.

9780525428336 (hc.)

x, 294 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Origins. The book from across the Atlantic ; Gray's botany ; Beetles, birds, theories ; Word of mouth ; Making a stir ; A night at the Lyceum ; The nick of time -- Struggles. Bones of contention ; Agassiz ; The what-is-it? ; A spirited conflict ; Into the vortex ; Tree of life ; A jolt of recognition ; Wildfires -- Adaptations. Discord in Concord ; Moods ; Meditations in a garden ; The succession of forest trees ; Race of the Old World ; A cold shudder -- Transformations. At Down House ; The ghost of John Brown ; In the transcend'ntal graveyard.

The turning point, in 1860, with the story of the influence of Charles Darwin's just-published On the Origin of Species on five American intellectuals: 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. Some had difficulty aligning the new theory with their religious convictions and their faith in a higher power. Thoreau, perhaps the most profoundly affected, absorbed Darwin's views into his mysterious final work on species migration and the interconnectedness of all living things.

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