The Tragic Sense of Life
Ernst Haeckel and the Struggle over Evolutionary Thought
Robert J. Richards
- Prior
- to
- the
- First
- World
- War,
- more
- people
- learned
- of
- evolutionary
- theory
- from
- the
- voluminous
- writings
- of
- Charles
- Darwin’s
- foremost
- champion
- in
- Germany,
- Ernst
- Haeckel
- (1834–1919),
- than
- from
- any
- other
- source,
- including
- the
- writings
- of
- Darwin
- himself.
- But,
- with
- detractors
- ranging
- from
- paleontologist
- Stephen
- Jay
- Gould
- to
- modern-day
- creationists
- and
- advocates
- of
- intelligent
- design,
- Haeckel
- is
- better
- known
- as
- a
- divisive
- figure
- than
- as
- a
- pioneering
- biologist.
- Robert
- J.
- Richards’s
- intellectual
- biography
- rehabilitates
- Haeckel,
- providing
- the
- most
- accurate
- measure
- of
- his
- science
- and
- art
- yet
- written,
- as
- well
- as
- a
- moving
- account
- of
- Haeckel’s
- eventful life.
pro-mbooks3 : libris
