<div>Looking for the first time at the cut-price anatomy schools rather than genteel Oxbridge, Desmond winkles out pre-Darwinian evolutionary ideas in reform-minded and politically charged early nineteenth-century London. In the process, he reveals the underside of London intellectual and social life in the generation before Darwin as it has never been seen before. <br><br>"<i>The Politics of Evolution</i> is intellectual dynamite, and certainly one of the most important books in the history of science published during the past decade."—Jim Secord, <i>Times Literary Supplement</i> <br><br>"One of those rare books that not only stakes out new territory but demands a radical overhaul of conventional wisdom."—John Hedley Brooke, <i>Times Higher Education Supplement</i></div>