HUXLEY: EVOLUTION'S HIGH PRIEST.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.NFINE/NFINE.No owner inscrptn,and no price-clip to dw/dj.Glossy laminated subject sepia portrait photographic upper wrap,publisher advert/critics' reviews for other author titles to rear; with negligible shelf-wear and minimal creasing to edges and corners - no major nicks or tears present.Head+foot of spine/backstrip minimally bumped with reciprocal creasing.Top edge lightly dust-soiled and minimally grubbed/thumbed,fore-edges generally cleaner; contents bright,tight and near pristine.Clean,black paper-covered bds with bright, crisp,stamped gilt letters to same and clean plain white eps.UK,8vo HB+ dw /dj,1st edn,v-xivpp+3-370pp [paginated] includes half-title+title pages, contents+illus lists,11 chapters in 2 chronological parts [covering 1870- 1895],16pp of b/w contemporary illus+photographs in 2 blocks of 8pp between pp114/15,and pp242/43 respectively,an afterword,abbreviations list,notes,19pp biblio and an index. By 1870 T.H. Huxley - Darwin's Bulldog - had become the prophet of the new world of science.But how did 'Pope Huxley',as the Spectator dubbed him,sell Evolution? And did his satires on Anglican supernaturalism break the stranglehold of the old Universities? Adrian Desmond continues his acclaimed study of the rise of the professional and the changes in industrial society and shows how our evolutionary understanding was forged by this seminal figure.Huxley was the young hot-head in the first volume,'The Devil's Disciple' (see rja24917),clawing his way from the East End slums to the presidency of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.Evolution's High Priest takes the story through Huxley's social triumph to his death in 1895.The enfant terrible has become a symbol of the middle class ascent,penetrating the Establishment as a Privy Councillor to the Queen.But grass-root society was moving even faster. Adrian Desmond offers surprising evidence of Huxley's brushes with a growing socialism to explain why he forged today's major arguing point,'Social Darwinism'.Synoptic in its sweep, Huxley shows how a happy designed Nature gave way to our passionless cosmos.Family tragedy forced Huxley to peer deep into 'abyss of the Eternal'.That modern godless universe,intriguing and terrifying,millions of years in the making,was explored in his laboratory at South Kensington; his last pupil H.G.Wells made it the foundation of twentieth-century science fiction.Touching the crowning heights and crushing depths,this is the epic story of the first 'agnostic' (Huxley himself coined the word) whose life summed up the social changes from the early Victorian to the modern age.Written with enormous zest and passion,vast in its conception,and based on a reading of 5,000 letters,'Huxley:Evolution's High Priest' is about the making of our modern Darwinian world. See also rja24917.Both books can be bought insured,singly or at a 15% discount for the two together. Please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,with order or preference, and,because of the weight of this item,for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!