Of Moths And Men: An Evolutionary Tale: The Untold Story Of Science And The Peppered Moth

Mutant moths and feuding scientists--this is the real story behind the most famous experiment in 20th-century evolutionary biology. A story of hubris and heartbreak, "Of Moths and Men" reveals as much about the internecine battles of science as it does about the mysteries of evolution.

"An engrossing narrative" (Wall Street Journal) that does for evolutionary biology what The Double Helix did for DNA. 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.