OTHER TITLES
ADAM SMITH
Reaktion Critical Lives, 2016.
A short introduction to Adam Smith, the moral philosopher whose ideas about the good life were very different from the "greed is good" caricature so often associated with him and with capitalism.
“As thorough as it is entertaining. Without oversimplifying, Conlin brings Smith’s world to life.”
CIVILISATION
BFI TV Classics, 2009.
I watched re-runs of Kenneth Clark's thirteen-part documentary series on WNET in New York in the 1980s. In this study of the series' making and meaning I sought to challenge the conventional view of this landmark survey of western history as retardataire and slow.
“The first of a new genre - a fascinating assessment of a television series made soon enough to record the intentions and experiences of its makers yet distant enough to assess its place in cultural history.”
EVOLUTION AND THE VICTORIANS
Bloomsbury, 2014.
Darwin's discovery of evolution by natural selection was part of a long process of negotiation between imagination, faith and knowledge which began long before 1859 and which continues to this day. In this book I surveyed the thinkers and debates implicated in this process, from the late eighteenth century to the First World War.
For a full list of my publications, please visit my University of Southampton faculty page.