by Adam Gopnik
Finally, let me mark my debt, in the conclusion particularly but really throughout, to the writings of the two pillars of modern liberal thinking: Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1946) as well as his Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963) and to the collected works of John Stuart Mill, available at length in any library Intriguingly both Popper and Mill were Darwinian skeptics of a modest kind—Mill not sure it could be so, Popper not sure that evolutionary theory was science in the sense that physics was science. A good reminder that great minds don't think alike and also that, as all three men knew, there is nothing like an argument.
My personal thanks also go especially to Harold Holzer, my guide into the Lincoln world, and to Daniel Dennett, who read my pages on Darwin, as well as to Frank Sulloway Obviously, all faults remaining are mine. My debts to David Remnick, for his friendship and counsel, as well as to Ann Goldstein, and Peter Canby and his f act- checking team at The New Yorker are constant, as they are to Lydia Buechler and Lily Evans at Knopf. It was my intention to maintain the original tone of these chapters as more or less conversational New Yorker essays, more talk than thunder, by not overburdening them with apparatus and mechanics while still fine- tuning them for accuracy. I thank with all my heart Sophia Sherry, who tirelessly and charmingly checked and checked again all that was new in this book; the mistakes made, of which I'm sure there are some, are mine.
Conversations—on science, humanism, the drama of Darwin's life and of American history, and all their many and different discontents— with the late and ever- missed Kirk Varnedoe; Bernard Avishai; Malcolm Gladwell; my sister Alison Gopnik; my brother Blake Gopnik; Stephen Gaghan; and, particularly, with Louis Menand have illuminated many nights and mornings and shine on many pages. My friend and editor George Andreou persuaded me that a book on these subjects made sense, after the omniscient and omnivorous Henry Finder had first persuaded me to try and make sense of these subjects. I thank them both.
And Martha, constant reader and conscience! Of course, and the children, Luke and Olivia, the best free apps I have ever downloaded. Angels always, and now for ages.
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adam Gopnik has been writing for The New Yorker since 1986. He is a three- time winner of the National Magazine Award for Essays and for Criticism and the George Polk Award for Magazine Reporting. He lives in New York City with his wife and their two children.
THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
Copyright © 2009 by Adam Gopnik
All rights reserved.
www.aaknopf.com
Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks
of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Gopnik, Adam.
Angels and ages : a short book about Darwin, Lincoln, and
modern life / Adam Gopnik.—1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-27121-1
1. Lincoln, Abraham, 1809–1865. 2. Lincoln, Abraham, 1809–1865—Influence.
3. Presidents—United States—Biography. 4. Darwin, Charles, 1809–1882.
5. Darwin, Charles, 1809–1882—Influence. 6. Naturalists—England—Biography.
7. Civilization, Modern. 8. Liberalism. I. Title.
E457.2.g67 2009
973.7092—dc22 2008036224
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