The Descent of Man

No book made a greater impact on the intellectual world of its first Victorian readers nor has had such an enduring influence on our thinking on science, literature, theology and philosophy. In The Descent of Man, Darwin addresses the crucial question of the origins, evolution and racial divergence of mankind, that he had deliberately left out of On the Origin of Species. And the evidence he presents forces us to question what it is that makes us uniquely human.

Charles Darwin (1809-û1882) was an evolutionary biologist, best known for his controversial and ground-breaking The Origin of Species (1859).

James Moore is a reader in history of science and technology at the Open University.

Adrian Desmond is an honorary research fellow in the Biology Department at University College London.