He was caught up in a war of extermination being waged by

He was caught up in a war of extermination being waged by European settlers against the natives. If the Galapagos Islands provided the key evidence for divergent evolution, mainland South America showed him species competing for territory Here too there were human parallels. No one doubts that living in a society based on individual competition helped him to move in this direction. But even before he read Malthus on population-pressure - conventionally regarded as the source of the struggle metaphor - he had been forced towards a harsher image of nature by his observations in South America. Behind the scenes, his observations had convinced him that evolution had occurred, and he had began to think about how the process might work.He had now begun the painful transition from belief in a benevolent Creator to a theory in which struggle and death were themselves creative forces. Publication of his geological results gave him the start he needed in the London scientific community.

He returned with a determination to become a full-time scientist (not quite a professional, since unlike his disciple T H Huxley he did not have to earn a living from his science). Where Desmond and Moore challenged the "Darwin industry" to confront the claim that scientific knowledge is a social construct, Browne offers a synthesis of the internal and external approaches to the history of science.As the subtitle indicates, the highlight of Darwin's early career was his voyage aboard the survey-vessel HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836 The voyage transformed Darwin's life in more ways than one. She draws on the wealth of his surviving notes and letters, and on the experience of the scholars who have spent their careers interpreting this evidence. Darwin did something more: he turned that insight into a theory capable of addressing a host of technical issues in ways that modern biologists still find fruitful.Browne explores the origins of Darwin's theory by taking account of both his cultural environment and his biological discoveries.

The philosopher Herbert Spencer, who actually coined the term, also visualized competition as the motor of progress. She is not oblivious to the parallels between the theory of natural selection and the competitive ethos of Victorian capitalism. But she is more interested in Darwin's efforts to apply his theoretical insights to his researches in natural history.The problem with stressing the congruence between the "survival of the fittest" and the free-enterprise system is that so many others were exposed to the same influence. It lacks the underlying agenda of Desmond and Moore, which sparked a good deal of controversy.

They flitted frenetically from Chartist riots to Darwin's personal traumas, with the aim of convincing us that his ideas were shaped by his social environment. Browne pays more attention to Darwin's scientific life, less to the surrounding ferment of social debate. What you get is what the author wants you to believe was important in shaping his ideas about evolution. Browne's is a more conventional biography, written in a more relaxed style. The differences between Browne's interpretation and that offered by Desmond and Moore reveal the extent to which Darwin's life has become a battleground for historians.