Darwin's evolutionary ideas have been of immense social and political significance, filtering into an amazing galaxy of ideologies and agendas. This book focuses upon Social Darwinism, analyzing the concept, exploring its social origins, showing how people metaphorically sat upon Darwin's «coat-tails» to further their own campaigns, justifying everything from capitalism to socialism, war to peace, race and empire to Nazi-style eugenics. These reflective essays showcase the author's many years of Darwinian research and cover the period from 1859 to World War II (mainly in the British arena). Darwin's Coat-Tails also sheds light on current challenges, from «ethnic cleansing» to genetic engineering. Darwin's evolutionary ideas have been of immense social and political significance, filtering into an amazing galaxy of ideologies and agendas. This book focuses upon Social Darwinism, analyzing the concept, exploring its social origins, showing how people metaphorically sat upon Darwin's «coat-tails» to further their own campaigns, justifying everything from capitalism to socialism, war to peace, race and empire to Nazi-style eugenics. These reflective essays showcase the author's many years of Darwinian research and cover the period from 1859 to World War II (mainly in the British arena). Darwin's Coat-Tails also sheds light on current challenges, from «ethnic cleansing» to genetic engineering. Preface ix Acknowledgments xiii Part One: Context Darwin's Context 1(12) Darwinism and Politics 13(16) Social Darwinism: The Concept 29(16) Evolution and Religion 45(6) Apes and Angels: Writings on Darwinism 51(12) Part Two: Thinkers T. H. Huxley: Nature Red in Tooth and Claw 63(8) Peter Kropotkin and Mutual Aid 71(8) Dean Inge and Cultural Crisis 79(18) Part Three: War, Pugnacity and Empire Darwin on War and Aggression 97(14) Peter Chalmers Mitchell and Peace Biology 111(14) Man the Fighting Animal: Anticipations of Sociobiology 125(24) Historical Monkey Business 149(24) Part Four: The Interwar Period British Anthropologists Face the Nazis 173(32) We Europeans: A Wrangle over Race 205(22) American and Nazi Eugenics: Flawed Alliance 227(22) Eugenics, Genetics and Feeblemindedness 249(20) Segregation versus Sterilization 269(46) Julian Huxley's New Religion: Evolutionary Humanism 315(22) Name Index 337