The "Darwin Story" has been told in many different ways and from a wide range of perspectives. Some focus on the detailed development of evolution theory. Others examine the ways in which evolution was used to justify different ideologies. But no one has told this tale as a story of mothers, fathers, and families wrestling with alternative explanations of suffering in a time of tremendously high child mortality rates. Darwin's Falling Sparrow explores how both Darwin and his readers confronted evolutionary ideas as more than scientists, ministers, or public intellectuals. They were also parents, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, and friends, who, in their attempt to devise a new explanation for the ubiquitous "Fall of Every Sparrow," were inspired to see the world through new, extraordinary lenses that altered the course of history, science, and medicine. The book applies a biographical, narrative lens to explore what people in the past believed and why, and how and why those beliefs - about God, nature, history, and human agency - changed over time. As an historian of science with fifteen years' experience conveying the complexities of the history of science and religion to undergraduates, I take the reader to this past with empathetic attention to the role of suffering in the history of evolutionary thought. As we approach the centennial of the most famous trial over teaching evolution (the Scopes Trial of 1925), we need histories that are accessible and relevant to non-academic readers who are interested in understanding stances and debates, rather than books that simply offer ammunition for one side or the other. This kind of history directs our attention to questions that can help us navigate debates in the present in a more informed, empathetic way: What are the fundamental beliefs driving stances and conflicts? What assumptions and values are at stake amid conflicts over science and science-driven policy? Darwin's Falling Sparrow will appeal to anyone interested in understanding the complex factors that often drive both historical and present-day debates about the role of science in the modern world.
Kristin Johnson is a professional historian of science who specializes in the history of the naturalist tradition (evolution biology, ecology, natural history museums, etc.) and has taught in the Science, Technology and Society Program at the University of Puget Sound (Tacoma, Washington) since 2006. She teaches a wide range of courses, including 'Science and Religion: Historical Perspectives, ' 'Evolution and Ethics, ' 'Cancer and Society, ' 'The History of Medicine, ' 'Evolution and Society since Darwin, ' 'Apes, Angels and Darwin, ' and 'Science and Race: A History.' Johnson has years of experience with the challenging task of conveying the complex and often impenetrable work of academic historians to a non-professional audience, namely, hundreds of undergraduate students. She has won two teaching awards, reflecting her ability to successfully bring academic work and conversations to a broad, nonprofessional audience. She attributes her interest in the need for human-interest-driven syntheses of scholarship for those with little prior knowledge but a keen interest in the history of science and religion to her inspiring students. Johnson is an active member in professional history of science organizations, having served on the Education Committee of the History of Science Society, the editorial boards of ISIS: Journal of the History of Science Society and the Journal for the History of Biology, and as co-organizer of the Columbia History of Science Group for the past decade
