Of Moths and Men: An Evolutionary Tale: The Untold Story of Science and the Peppered Moth

In the 1950s, a British physician and amateur lepidopterist named H. B. D. Kettlewell went into the English woods to catch evolution in action among the now-famous Peppered Moths. His work became Darwin's missing evidence, an evolutionary experiment as influential as any in the last century. Compellingly told, Of Moths and Men reveals Kettlewell to be a deluded scientist, a man tyrannized by his mentor, the powerful E. B. Ford, an imperious, eccentric Oxford don, a Darwinian zealot determined to crush all enemies in his path. In a revelatory, controversial work that will be debated for years to come, Judith Hooper uncovers the intellectual rivalries, petty jealousies, and faulty science behind one of the most famous experiments--and myths--in the history of evolutionary biology. Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 01/17/2004
ISBN: 9780393325256
Pages: 377
Weight: 1.11lbs
Size: 8.30h x 6.10w x 1.07d

Review Citations: New York Times 02/08/2004 pg. 28
Kliatt 05/01/2004 pg. 41