David Stack – författare

Thomas Hodgskin (1787-1869), radical thinker, is the subject of this study, and he is presented here as a forerunner of New Right ideology rather than as `early English socialist'.Thomas Hodgskin was one of the most significant thinkers of nineteenth-century radicalism. An active writer for over fifty years and an associate of Bentham and James Mill amongst others, his life provides a paradigm for understanding the evolution of radicalism from Waterloo to the Second Reform Act. This study rescues him from his marginalisation and mis-casting as an "early English socialist": far from being a socialist, many of his views seem to mark him out as a forerunner of New Right or neo-liberal ideology. Drawing on a range of new sources and reassessing Hodgskin's life and work, Dr Stack argues that the crux of Hodgskin's thought was the essentially theological distinction he drew between nature and artifice. Throughout, he makes plain the centrality of providentialism to nineteenth-century radicalism.Dr DAVID STACK teaches in the Department of History at Queen Mary and Westfield College at the University of London.

How do we explain the Holocaust? Here, David Stack untangles this important yet knotty question by shining fresh light on ideas of evolution, eugenics and genocide. In so doing Stack guides readers through the tumultuous relationship between science and society from the 19th century onwards and offers a critical reappraisal of the assumed link between Darwin, Hitler and the Holocaust.Rooted in transnational and intellectual history, this book begins with an exploration of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, then traces its connections to modern eugenic ideas and culminates in a consideration of the contemporary impact of framing the Holocaust in such a way. In the process, Stack provides a sophisticated reassessment of key individuals such as Charles Darwin and Francis Galton, and key concepts like ‘social Darwinism’ and ‘modern synthesis’. Throughout Stack evaluates the popular historical narrative which seeks to blame Darwin for the Holocaust: and ultimately, Stack reasons, this approach proves both factually flawed and methodologically mistaken.Innovative in its approach and nuanced in its argument, From Darwin to Death Camps? will be an invaluable resource for scholars of both the Holocaust and the history of science.