Episode 2

DARWIN: THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES (1859) For a book so famous, for a book which nobody doubts helped shape the modern world, for a book which led its author to be dubbed “the most dangerous man in Britain”, it is something of a shock to find that The Origin Of Species deals almost exclusively in the genealogy of several plants and animals. And yet that is precisely why The Origin was so sensational. MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT: A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN (1792) Published in 1792, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was the first great feminist treatise. WILLIAM WILBERFORCE: SPEECH TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS (12th MAY 1789) On 12th May 1789, William Wilberforce’s speech in the House of Commons calling for the slave trade to be abolished was one of the most significant moments in the history of the abolition movement. But it is in print, as a book, that it has had its greatest influence.