About this item
Charismatic and controversial Louis Agassiz is our least known revolutionarysome fifty years after American independence he became a founding father of American science One hundred and seventy-five years ago a Swiss immigrant took America by storm launching American science as we know it The irrepressible Louis Agassiz legendary at a young age for his work on mountain glaciers focused his prodigious energies on the fauna of the New World Invited to deliver a series of lectures in Boston he never left becoming the most famous scientist of his time A pioneer in field research and an obsessive collector Agassiz enlisted the American public in a vast campaign to send him natural specimens dead or alive for his ingeniously conceived museum of comparative zoology As an educator of enduring impact he trained a generation of American scientists and science teachers men and women alike Irmscher sheds new light on Agassizs fascinating partnership with his brilliant wife Elizabeth Cary Agassiz a science writer in her own right who would go on to become the first president of Radcliffe College But theres a dark side to the story Irmscher adds unflinching evidence of Agassizs racist impulses and shows how avidly Americans looked to men of science to mediate race policy The books potent original scenes include the pitched battle between Agassiz and his student Henry James Clark as well as the merciless often amusing exchanges between Darwin and Harvard botanist Asa Gray over Agassizs stubborn resistance to evolution A fascinating life story both inspiring and cautionary for anyone interested in the history of American ideas.
About the Author
Christoph Irmscher is a writer and biographer based in Bloomington, Indiana. He teaches at Indiana University, where he also runs the Wells Scholars Program. His biographies of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Louis Agassiz, and Max Eastman have been widely reviewed, winning praise from the New York Times, where "Louis Agassiz: Creator of American Science" was Editor's Choice, the Seattle Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the Vineyard Gazette, and the Wall Street Journal. He particularly enjoys archival work. He was the first biographer of the charismatic radical Max Eastman to be given unlimited access to Eastman's voluminous papers, and he will never forget the day when he found Eastman's little notebook recording his visit with Sigmund Freud in 1927. He is now collaborating with the film historian Cooper Graham on an edition of the letters of the actress Florence Deshon, one of Eastman's (and Charlie Chaplin's) lovers, a smart and rebellious woman who came to resent the male-dominated culture of Hollywood. Christoph has written reviews for the American Scholar, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Weekly Standard. Subscribe to Christoph's newsletter--with periodic short essays related to his work--at http://www.christophirmscher.com/newsletter.htm.
