Monkey to Man: The Evolution of the March of Progress Image out now
(Credit: Yale University Press London)
One of the most iconic depictions of evolution, the “march of progress”, will be explored for the first time in a new book by a University of Leicester academic.
Monkey to Man: The Evolution of the March of Progress Image, written by Professor Gowan Dawson of the University’s Centre for Victorian Studies, examines how the depiction shaped our understanding of how humans evolved.
The “march of progress” represents evolution and depicts a series of apelike creatures that become progressively more like a human.
Despite this being one of the most popular depictions of the theory of evolution, its emphasis on linear progress contradicts modern concepts of evolution as complex and branching.
For the first time, Professor Dawson examines the origins and history of what has become one of the most consequential scientific illustrations of all time.
The book focuses on the two most important versions of the image: The frontispiece to Thomas Henry Huxley’s Evidence as to Man’s Place in Nature (1863) and “The Road to Homo Sapiens,” a fold-out illustration in the best-selling book Early Man (1965).
Professor Dawson traces the history of these two illustrations from Victorian Britain to Space Age America. In doing so, Dawson explores how aspects of the image have shifted scientific and public perspectives on human evolution over the last hundred and fifty years.
Monkey to Man: The Evolution of the March of Progress Image was published by Yale University Press on Tuesday 14 May. Find more information about the book.