HAECKEL'S EMBRYOS - IMAGES, EVOLUTION, AND FRAUD

Nick Hopwood is reader in history of science and medicine in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge.

"Sumptuous... Hopwood's excellent, thought-provoking book makes us ponder how these erroneous illustrations acquired their iconic status, and, above all, it shines a spotlight on the power of drawings to influence our thinking." - New Scientist; "Rarely have images proved so incendiary as the embryo drawings of nineteenth-century experimental zoologist Ernst Haeckel. In this lavishly illustrated volume, Hopwood traces the chequered history of the sketches, which showed similarities between embryos of higher and lower vertebrates, including humans, at particular points in their development. Haeckel intended the images as support for Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory, but under attack revealed that they were schematics. Hopwood meticulously charts how, despite the controversy, the drawings took on a life of their own." - Nature; "This book is fun to read, chock-full of exhaustive detail made palatable by entertaining turns of phrase, word pictures, and puns... I found myself fully engaged and repeatedly chuckling over Hopwood's wordsmithery. Then, on practically every page, I was forced to loiter and savor the beauty of the historical plates and images. Through it all, I learned so much. Haeckel's Embryos is a wonderful book." - American Biology Teacher; "Detailed, well documented, and rich with illustrations. It is likely to be of most value to those with interests in developmental biology, embryology, the history of attacks on evolution, or the history of scientific publication." - Library Journal; "Hopwood raises important questions (particularly pertinent to the modern era of viral memes) about the teaching of empirical science and the bringing of complex scientific ideas to the public, the 'boundary of popular literature and specialist work,' the relationship between the observer as accurate reporter and as artist, and the line beyond which schematization for didactic or rhetorical effect becomes deliberately misleading." - Publishers Weekly; "Through eighteen chapters of beautifully illustrated text, Hopwood lays out the unfolding landscape of scientific, social, and political factors that led Haeckel to create his images for public consumption, as well as the rounds of debates that have dogged these images since their first appearance in print... Hopwood does a good job of giving his reader a glimpse into the manufacture of Haeckel's images, and in so doing, gives a fresh perspective on the controversy surrounding Haeckel's famous embryos." - Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences; "Ernst Haeckel, the best known German Darwinist of his day, was also the most controversial. For nearly a century and a half his widely circulated series of animal and human embryos, illustrating common descent, have prompted charges of forgery and fraud from scientific, religious, and political critics. Antievolutionists, especially advocates of intelligent design, have been among his most outspoken detractors. One can only hope that Hopwood's scrupulously researched and evenhandedly argued book will finally lay these longstanding controversies to rest." - Ronald L. Numbers, author of Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion