In The Origin of Species, (1859), Charles Darwin refused to discuss human evolution, believing the subject too
'surrounded with prejudices'. He had been reworking his notes since the 1830s, but only with trepidation did he
finally publish The Descent of Man in 1871. The book notoriously put apes in our family tree and made the races
one family, diversified by 'sexual selection' -- Darwin's provocative theory that female choice among competing
males leads to diverging racial characteristics. Named by Sigmund Freud as 'one of the ten most significant books'
ever written, Darwin's Descent of Man continues to shape the way we think about what it is that makes us uniquely
human. In their introduction, James Moore and Adrian Desmond, acclaimed biographers of Charles Darwin, call for
a radical re-assessment of the book, arguing that its core ideas on race were fired by Darwin's hatred of slavery.
The text is the second and definitive edition and this volume also contains suggestions for further reading, a
chronology and biographical sketches of prominent individuals mentioned.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Preface to the Second Edition
Introduction 1
I The Evidence of the Descent of Man from Some Lower Form 5
II On the Manner of Development of Man from Some Lower Form 26
III Comparison of the Mental Powers of Man and the Lower Animals 66
IV Comparison of the Mental Powers of Man and the Lower Animals (continued) 100
V On the Development of the Intellectual and Moral Faculties during Primeval and Civilized Times 131
VI On the Affinities and Genealogy of Man 151
VII On the Races of Man 172
VIII Principles of Sexual Selection 214
IX Secondary Sexual Characters in the Lower Classes of the Animal Kingdom 268
X Secondary Sexual Characters of Insects 283
XI Insects (continued) - Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths) 316
XII Secondary Sexual Characters of Fishes, Amphibians, and Reptiles 341
XIII Secondary Sexual Characters of Birds 370
XIV Birds (continued) 417
XV Birds (continued) 459
XVI Birds (concluded) 481
XVII Secondary Sexual Characters of Mammals 518
XVIII Secondary Sexual Characters of Mammals (continued) 544
XIX Secondary Sexual Characters of Man 576
XX Secondary Sexual Characters of Man (continued) 606
XXI General Summary and Conclusion 629
Supplemental Note 644
Index 649
