By NEW SCIENTIST
Added: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:00:00 UTC

Thanks to Flobear for the link.

Reposted from:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16503-hatred-of-slavery-drove-darwin-to-emancipate-all-life.html

For someone who came up with what has justly been described as "the single best idea anyone has ever had", Darwin has been vilified to an extraordinary degree. Clearly, his achievement of uniting all species under a common ancestor outraged millions, and still does. This book spectacularly humanises him, showing how he was driven by the great moral cause of his day: opposition to slavery.

Adrian Desmond and James Moore have come up with something astonishing: a radical new explanation of the force that drove Darwin. I hesitate to call this work definitive, as that was how the same authors' epic biography of Darwin was described in 1991. I wouldn't have thought it possible to further elevate the standing Darwin and his work have, but by trawling through reams of correspondence and notebooks, Desmond and Moore have done just that.

Click here to continue reading:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16503-hatred-of-slavery-drove-darwin-to-emancipate-all-life.html

TAGGED: DARWIN, EVOLUTION, HUMAN RIGHTS