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. " "The Politics of Evolution" is intellectual dynamite, and certainly one of the most important books in the history of science published during the past decade. "--Jim Secord, "Times Literary Supplement" "One of those rare books that not only stakes out new territory but demands a radical overhaul of conventional wisdom. "--John Hedley Brooke, "Times Higher Education Supplement"