“A rich account of how natural history was actually produced, particularly in the antebellum era. . . . This study, with its unusual blend of detailed natural history, social history, and biography, offers a valuable addition to a growing body of scholarship reassessing the role played by science in the culture of the South, as well as to the literature exploring the complex functioning of southern intellectuals in the age of slavery.” — Journal of Southern History
“Stephens’s work is an important addition and corrective to the history of antebellum southern intellectual thought and American science; it will likely stand as definitive on this subject for years to come.” — Journal of American History
“Stephens looks at the scientific writings of six nineteenth-century naturalists whose work and lives were associated with Charleston, South Carolina. Stephens’s wide-ranging research and talents as a sympathetic biographer cast welcome light on the importance of this group.” — American Historical Review
“A rich account. . . . A rewarding picture of a scientific network of skilled gentlemen, which also reveals much about the aspirations of southern urban culture. . . . This book should become a standard reference for its biographical and technical details on these naturalists and their work, its discriminating reading of antebellum race theory among naturalists, and for its corrective regarding the South’s place in American science.” — North Carolina Historical Review
“Stephens succeeds in demonstrating the extent to which scientific inquiry in nineteenth-century Charleston was domesticated to the needs of the Old South. . . . Stephens, of course, is extraordinarily well equipped to undertake this task. . . . It is crystal clear from [this] careful exposition that science has always been about more than disclosing the facts of nature.” — Books & Culture
“A well-written and noteworthy account of six South Carolinians who made notable contributions to American natural history between 1815 and 1895.” — CHOICE
“In this revealing new book, historian Lester Stephens gives us a surprising examination of the active scientific life in the city.” — The [Columbia, S.C.] State
“In this thoroughly-researched and well-written work, Stephens restores six naturalists of the American South to a respected remembrance.” — Religious Studies Review
“In this meticulously researched collective biography of naturalists in nineteenth-century Charleston, South Carolina, Lester D. Stephens tells us more about science in the American South than we have ever known. His story compels revision or rejection of numerous stereotypes: about the quality of science in the antebellum South, about southern responses to the claim that not all humans descended from Adam and Eve, and about the relationship between science and religion in the life of the distinguished naturalist-minister John Bachman.” — Ronald L. Numbers, University of Wisconsin–Madison
“This valuable study of the Charleston naturalists is part social history, part biography, and part regional history in a way that connects to the history of science and the history of racism. In each realm, Stephens offers us the best scholarship. In particular, his discussions of nineteenth-century taxonomy reflect his important study with biologists and museum curators, while his use of archival records and personal letters shows a skilled historian’s hand.” — Jane Maienschein, Arizona State University
