Physics and politics; or, thoughts on the application of the principles of “natural selection” and “inheritance” to political society. Part of the “International Scientific Series.”

New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1898. 12mo. [x], 228, [2] pp. Later edition. Original blindstamped publisher’s cloth, author and title in gilt on the spine. An excellent copy. Item #14829

Later edition of this work, first published in London in 1872, and issued here as the second volume in the International Scientific Series of noteworthy science-related volumes in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Applying Darwinian ideas to human civilization and government, Bagehot examines the evolution of nation-making from our earliest days where military strength was key, up through “the age of discussion.” According to a review written by Alfred Russel Wallace in Nature, Bagehot provides a “variety of topics connected with the progress of societies and nations, and the development of their distinctive peculiarities; and his book shows an abundance of ingenious and original thought.” The book “is a very remarkable illustration of the dread of eagerness inspired by the doubts of a reflective mind. The eager nations, he held, had had their day. The time for deliberating, hesitating and slowly resolving nations, had arrived” (DNB, I, pp. 868-869).

Bagehot (1826-1877) was a brilliant journalist and essayist who founded the National Review and later became editor of The Economist. He had a knack for witty criticisms and wrote extensively on politics and economics throughout his career.

Price: $150.00

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