Sex, Botany and Empire (Icon Science): The Story of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks - Couverture rigide

Fara, Patricia

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1840464887 ISBN 13 : 9781840464887

Editeur : Icon Books, 2003

Synopsis

When imperial explorer James Cook returned from his first voyage to Australia, the scandal writers mercilessly satirised the amorous exploits of his botanist, Joseph Banks, whose trousers were reportedly stolen while he was inside the tent of Queen Oberea of Tahiti. But Enlightenment botany was fraught with sexual symbolism. And in Sweden and Britain, both imperial powers, Banks and Carl Linneaus ruled over their own small scientific empires, promoting botanical exploration to justify exploiting territories, peoples and natural resources. Regarding native peoples with disdain, these two scientific emperors portrayed the Arctic North and the Pacific Ocean as uncorrupted Edens, free from the shackles of Western sexual mores. Patricia Fara reveals how, barely concealed under Banks' and Linneaus' camouflage of noble Enlightenment, were the altogether more seedy drives to conquer, subdue and deflower - in the name of the British imperial State.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Patricia Fara is a Fellow of Clare College at the University of Cambridge, where she teaches history of science. She is also the author of Newton: The Making of Genius (Macmillan) and An Entertainment for Angels (Icon, 2001).

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Icon Books
• Date d'édition: 2003
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1840464887
• ISBN 13: 9781840464887
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 180
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible