This concluding volume of Janet Browne`s biography covers the transformation in Darwin`s life after the first unexpected announcement of the theory of evolution by natural selection & the publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859. Always a private man, Darwin found himself a controversial figure, reviewed & discussed in circles that stretched far beyond the boundaries of Victorian science. Janet Browne here examines the wider publishing world of Victorian England & the different audiences that responded to the ideas of one of the leading thinkers of the nineteenth century & considers the Darwinian revolution from Darwin`s point of view. ...

Part biography, part history of science, part social documentary, Charles Darwin: The Scholar who changed human history takes readers along on Darwin’s fantastic voyage of discovery. Charles Darwin (1809-82) changed forever the way we understand ourselves & our place in the world. His celebrated volumes On the Origin of Species & The Descent of Man laid the foundation for modern evolutionary science & sparked an impassioned debate on the origins of mankind between secular science & traditional religious dogma. ...

Few lives of great men offer so much interest
- & so many mysteries
- as the life of Charles Darwin, the greatest figure of

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Charles Darwin: the man who discovered evolution? The man who killed off God? Or a flawed man of his age, part genius, part ruthless careerist who would not acknowledge his debts to other thinkers? In this bold new life
- the first single volume biography in twenty-five years
- A. N. Wilson, the acclaimed author of The Victorians & God`s Funeral, goes in search of the celebrated but contradictory figure Charles Darwin. Darwin was described by his friend & champion, Thomas Huxley, as a `symbol`. But what did he symbolize? In Wilson`s portrait, both sympathetic & critical, Darwin was two men. On the one h&, he was a naturalist of genius, a patient & precise collector & curator who greatly expanded the possibilities of taxonomy & geology. On the other h&, Darwin, a seemingly diffident man who appeared gentle & even lazy, hid a burning ambition to be a universal genius. He longed to have a theory which explained everything. But was Darwin`s 1859 master work, On the Origin of Species, really what it seemed, a work about natural history? Or was it in fact a consolation myth for the Victorian middle classes, reassuring them that the selfishness & indifference to the poor were part of nature`s grand plan? Charles Darwin: Victorian Mythmaker is a radical reappraisal of one of the great Victorians, a book which isn`t afraid to challenge the Darwinian orthodoxy while bringing us closer to the man, his revolutionary idea & the wider Victorian age.

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Charles Darwin was a scientist by profession but an explorer at heart. At age 22, Darwin embarked on his first voyage aboard a ship called the Beagle. This picture book follows Charles as he explores South America for the first time, collecting insects, galloping with Gauchos, digging up dinosaur bones, eating armadillo for breakfast, & making early discoveries related to evolution & natural selection. He encounters a volcano, a glacier & an earthquake & survives a harrowing five-year journey before returning home to Engl&, determined to devote his life to the natural world. Complete with mesmerizing map work charting his voyage, the biography communicates Darwin`s ideas & discoveries with gentle illustrations that capture his admiration for the world around him. ...

The latest title in the award-winning notebooks series sends the reader to the streets of Charles Dickens` Victorian London. Through extracts from Dickens` letters & correspondence, plus many paper novelties to open, lift & explore, the reader can learn all about the man himself & the inspiration behind both his literary & philanthropic work. Discover the fascinating story of his early life & family, the plight of London`s poor & the fight for social reform, his experiences in America & much more. ...

2012 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens, & what better way to celebrate than this pocket-size guide! Meet the cast of from all of Dickens` classic novels & devour the plots in one sitting. This pocket-size tome is both the perfect introduction to the world of Dickens, & great for brushing up on long forgotten readings. Now you can impress your friends with your knowledge of Dickens & never fail to score during the literary round of your local pub quiz. ...

London in Charles Dickens`s time was a city of great contrast. The affluent & middle classes enjoyed a comfortable existence but for the poor, life was cruel & harsh, the more so for girls & young women. Many characters in Dickens`s classic novels exemplify this: Little Em`ly in David Copperfield is perhaps the best known. Dickens was clearly troubled by what he saw & in autumn 1847 established Urania Cottage in Shepherd`s Bush as a hostel for destitute young women. The residents came from prisons, workhouses, police courts & from the streets of London. They included prostitutes, petty thieves & homeless teenagers. Urania Cottage was financed by the millionairess Angela Burdett Coutts of the banking family & details of the residents, its routines & its dramas are brought to life in the treasure-trove of letters written to her by Dickens. The aims of Urania Cottage were simple
- to rehabilitate the residents & prepare them for a normal life as domestic servants in Britain`s expanding colonies
- Australia chiefly but some went to Canada & South Africa. Charles Dickens & the House of Fallen Women vividly portrays the lot of the poor in mid-nineteenth century London & some of the people who were moved to help. Whatever his motives Charles Dickens was one of them. Jenny Hartley`s meticulous research has revealed the identities of many of the residents of Urania Cottage & how they fared later in life. The book is at once moving & dramatic
- life at the cottage didn`t always run smoothly
- & shows that with help, even the most deprived people can recover.



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Charles Dickens on Travel is a volume which presents a variety of key excerpts & essays written by the great novelist on the virtues & follies of travelling. Dickens’s travels took him to Italy, Switzerl&, Italy, France, America, & up & down the length & breadth of nineteenth century Britain. His writings recall an age when travel meant a far greater investment of emotion & time. Spanning widely varies modes of transport, these writings place emphasis on the experience of the journey itself, on the people encountered & the sights absorbed. ...

This is a celebration of Charles Nicholson, known internationally for his revolutionary yacht designs. He designed all the British-built J-class yachts, four America`s Cup challengers & schooners such as ” Margherita” & ” Creole”. It chronicles the development of Nicholson`s designs from the 1890s to the start of the Second World War. ...