The Sociable Sciences: Darwin and his Contemporaries in Chile

_The Sociable
Sciences: Darwin and his Contemporaries in Chile_ (New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2013).
http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=640821

Before genetics and the mapping of DNA, before ecology and global warming, adventurous and foolhardy souls were compelled into the wild because of their insatiable curiosity about the natural world. The work of these naturalists was intensely sociable: they explored together, dashed off irate letters to colleagues, haggled over specimens, commiserated over family tragedies, and extracted favors from one another. And no one better exemplified this than the European scientists who were drawn to Chile in the nineteenth century. This beautifully written history begins with a familiar pairing - Charles Darwin and Captain Robert Fitz-Roy aboard the Beagle - and goes on to trace the fortunes of colorful figures such as the
happy-go-lucky Prussian adventurer Bernardo Philippi, who was murdered by indigenous people in the Strait of Magellan, and Claudio Gay, an amateur French botanist who became the father of the natural sciences in Chile.
These Europeans taught Chileans a new way to see their own natural
environment, teaching a younger generation of scientists there and forging international networks that helped to shape the modern world.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Friendship, Science and Chilean Nature
1) The Making of a Naturalist
2) Chile and the Scientific Imagination
3) Making Friends in Chile
4) Darwin, Gay and the Utility of Chile
5) The Prussian Connection
6) A New Naturalist in Town
7) Expanding the Web
8) At the End of Their Days
Epilogue: Reflections on the Life of a Fly Catcher

Kind regards,

Patience Schell

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prof. Patience A. Schell
Chair in Hispanic Studies
Hispanic Studies
School of Language and Literature
University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen, Scotland
AB24 3UB
+44 (0)1224 272 631
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2013 Book: _The Sociable Sciences: Darwin and his Contemporaries in Chile_
http://us.macmillan.com/thesociablesciences/PatienceASchell