Review of Victorian Popularizers of Science: Designing Nature for New Audiences; Science in the Marketplace: Nineteenth-Century Sites and Experiences

Abstract

Bernard Lightman, Victorian Popularizers of Science: Designing Nature for New Audiences. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. Pp. xviii + 545. $45. Aileen Fyfe and Bernard Lightman, eds., Science in the Marketplace: Nineteenth-Century Sites and Experiences. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. Pp. x + 410. $45. The Darwin year showed clearly that, at least in 2009, science was far from the exclusive preserve of scientists. The bicentenary of Darwin’s birth and the sesquicentenary of the publication of his most important book were celebrated on a global scale. His scientific heirs observed these anniversaries with predictable scholarly pomp and circumstance. More striking were the number and scale of commemorations directed to the general public, as well as the enthusiasm with which they were received. Along with a spate of new and resuscitated books came lectures, conferences, tours, and exhibits. Every institution with a link to the man or his theory eagerly joined in the celebration—which is not, of course, to say that either Charles Darwin or his theory of evolution by natural selection has been universally embraced. It remains controversial outside the scientific community—in some ways more controversial than it was when originally proposed.