Synopses & Reviews
From Eve to Evolution provides the first full-length study of American womenand#8217;s responses to evolutionary theory and illuminates the role science played in the nineteenth-century womenand#8217;s rights movement. Kimberly A. Hamlin reveals how a number of nineteenth-century women, raised on the idea that Eveand#8217;s sin forever fixed womenand#8217;s subordinate status, embraced Darwinian evolutionand#151;especially sexual selection theory as explained in
The Descent of Manand#151;as an alternative to the creation story in Genesis.
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Hamlin chronicles the lives and writings of the women who combined their enthusiasm for evolutionary science with their commitment to womenand#8217;s rights, including Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Eliza Burt Gamble, Helen Hamilton Gardener, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. These Darwinian feminists believed evolutionary science proved that women were not inferior to men, that it was natural for mothers to work outside the home, and that women should control reproduction. The practical applications of this evolutionary feminism came to fruition, Hamlin shows, in the early thinking and writing of the American birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger.and#160;
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Much scholarship has been dedicated to analyzing what Darwin and other male evolutionists had to say about women, but very little has been written regarding what women themselves had to say about evolution. From Eve to Evolution adds much-needed female voices to the vast literature on Darwin in America.
Review
and#8220;The most comprehensive account so far of how nineteenth-century US men and women appropriated Darwinian ideas to argue for the equality of the sexes in the domestic and public spheres. . . . This deeply researched and richly detailed picture of US feminism in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century is an important contribution to our understanding of the interrelation of gender politics and science. From Eve to Evolution firmly corrects the mistaken view that evolutionary biology and feminism are at odds. And it reveals a more diverse dialogue around the science of sexual equality in the era than is generally appreciated.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;From Eve to Evolution documents the ardent ways in which womenand#8217;s rights advocates articulated and advanced Charles Darwinand#8217;s observations of female choice in the natural world as a counterargument to age-old biblical assertions about womenand#8217;s roles in society. Original and synthetic, Hamlinand#8217;s analysis follows key activistsand#8212;some radical and others well established in societyand#8212;to demonstrate their careful attention to the science involved as they made their case. She provides a fresh intellectual history of late nineteenth-century feminism that will interest historians of science as well as those interested in women, gender, and science issues.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;From Eve to Evolution offers a lucid account of Darwinand#8217;s theories and their reception in America, focusing particularly on elements critical to women of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuriesand#8212;the conflict between work and motherhood, womenand#8217;s individuation, and sexual selection. The book restores figures, important in their own day but lost to historical consideration, such as Helen Hamilton Gardener and Eliza Burt Gamble, and presents lesser-known aspects of better-known figures, such as Antoinette Brown Blackwell. The work offers an important reminder of the role that science increasingly played in American culture and the baneful effects of the silencing of womenand#8217;s voices from scientific discussion and debate.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;This engaging and persuasive discussion shows how American feminists influenced by The Descent of Man sought to reframe gender relations in Darwinian terms. Hamlin offers much-needed historical perspective on current debates over evolutionary concepts of human difference.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;The title of this book, From Eve to Evolution, neatly summarizes Hamlinand#8217;s narrative: how a relatively small but influential group of American feminists embraced the natural evolution of humans as a weapon to challenge the biblicaland#8212;and notoriously patriarchaland#8212;account of Godand#8217;s creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The fact that historians have struggled for decades to identify womenand#8217;s voices in the debates over Darwinism, both pro and con, makes this volume especially valuable.and#8221;
Review
andquot;Raises important issues about the interactions among science, politics, and religion.andquot;
Review
andquot;Full of original insights into well-known figures in womenandrsquo;s historyandmdash;Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Margaret Sanger and Cady Stantonandmdash;even as it reintroduces long-forgotten contributors. . . . From Eve to Evolution is a contribution to both the history of American feminism and the history of women and science, as well as an excellent read.andquot;
Review
andquot;Hamlinand#39;s textured and richly researched book addresses a substantial void in our understanding of the reception and application of evolutionary theory in the United States, offering the first full-length investigation into womenand#39;s engagement with evolutionary theory and the role that the theory played in the womenand#39;s rights movement.andquot;
Review
andquot;This is a truly enlightening book, sure to serve for years to come as a model for the exploration of how science and culture interact.andquot;
Review
andquot;In her deft and elegant account of American intellectual womenandrsquo;s responses to evolution and its interpreters, [Hamlin] establishes the Darwinian legacy to beandmdash;at least with regard to discourses of sex difference, sexual selection, and reproductive outcomesandmdash;more multifaceted than Darwinandrsquo;s own utterances and beliefs predicted.andquot;
Review
andquot;Hamlinand#39;s fascinating intellectual history uncovers how the new evolutionary science provided multiple arguments by which to advance the cause of womenand#39;s rights in the home and society. . . . Hamlin offers a lucid narrative of how a group of women intervened in a period between the demise of Eve, as the metanarrative for the meaning of womanhood, and the masculinist consolidation of evolutionary science.andquot;
Review
andquot;While Charles Darwin is not widely associated with feminism, Kimberly A. Hamlin argues convincingly that his work was foundational to the American womenandrsquo;s movement of the late nineteenth century. . . . Hamlinandrsquo;s book is lively with the intellectual debates of the moment when Darwinandrsquo;s ideas merged with the womenandrsquo;s rights movement.andquot;
Synopsis
Why should feminism and the biological sciences be at odds? And what might be gained from a reconciliation? In Who's Afraid of Charles Darwin? Vandermassen shows that, rather than continuing this enmity, feminism and the biological sciences--and in particular evolutionary psychology--have the need and the potential to become powerful allies. Properly understood, the Darwinian perspective proposed in this volume will become essential to tackling the major issues in feminism.
Synopsis
The relationship between feminism and the biological sciences has always been particularly tense and hostile. Feminists have been inclined not to trust what scientists had to say about the sexes, with science often being pronounced a Owhite, male enterprise.O But why should feminism and the biological sciences remain at odds? And what might be gained from a reconciliation? In Who's Afraid of Charles Darwin? Griet Vandermassen shows that, rather than continuing this enmity, feminism and the biological sciences, and in particular evolutionary psychology, have the potential and the need to become powerful allies. Properly understood, the Darwinian perspective proposed in this volume will become essential to tackling the major issues in feminism.
Synopsis
Kimberly Hamlinand#8217;s
From Eve to Evolution provides the first full-length study of American womenand#8217;s responses to evolutionary theory, and in doing so expands our understanding of the reception of Charles Darwin in the United States. Hamlin argues that, rather than being the passive victims of scientific studies of female inferiority, women welcomed the entrance of evolutionary science into discussions of sex differences and, in many cases, used science as a feminist tool. Indeed, she reveals that many feminists, socialists, and sex reformers found support and inspiration for their beliefs in Darwinand#8217;s work, particularly
The Descent of Man. Raised on the idea that Eveand#8217;s sin forever fixed womenand#8217;s subordinate status, many nineteenth-century women embraced Darwinian evolution, especially sexual selection theory, as an alternative to the Genesis creation story. Darwin also introduced readers to the concept of human-animal kinship, allowing feminist reformers to look to animals for examples of non-patriarchal gender roles, domestic arrangements, and sexual power systems. This book chronicles the lives and writings of the women who combined their enthusiasm for evolutionary science with their commitment to womenand#8217;s rights, including Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Helen Hamilton Gardener, Eliza Burt Gamble, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Margaret Sanger.and#160;
About the Author
Kimberly A. Hamlin is associate professor of American studies and history at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Table of Contents
Introductionand#160; Evolution and the Natural Order
Chapter 1 Eveand#8217;s Curse
Chapter 2 and#147;The Science of Feminine Humanityand#8221;
Chapter 3 Working Women and Animal Mothers
Chapter 4 and#147;Female Choiceand#8221; and the Reproductive Autonomy of Women
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index